Comparison of Lead, Copper and Aluminium as Gamma Radiation Shielding Material through Experimental Measurements and Simulation Using MCNP Version 4c

Abstract

The paper compares Lead, Copper and Aluminium as gamma radiation shielding material using both experimental and simulation techniques. Cs- 137 (662KeV), Na-22 (511KeV) and Na- 22(1274KeV) were used as gamma radiation sources and a sodium iodide (NaI) detector was used to detect the radiation. Variations were noted for detected gamma count rates by changing shielding material thickness. In the experimental approach, thickness was varied by placing sheets of a particular test material one by one. For simulation, Monte Carlo n- Particle (MCNP) code version 4c was used and the geometry of the whole experimental setup was plotted in it. The results were then compared for each test material and it was found that lead is the best shielding material for gamma radiation followed by copper and aluminium.