Effective Atomic Weight, Effective Atomic Numbers and Effective Electron Densities of Hydride and Borohydride Metals for Fusion Reactor Shielding

Abstract

The effective atomic weight, Aeff, mass attenuation coefficients, μ/ρ, half-value layer, HVL, effective atomic numbers, Zeff and effective electron densities, Neff of hydride and borohydirde metals, with potential shielding applications in fusion reactors have been investigated in the present work. The gamma ray interaction parameters, μ/ρ, HVL, Zeff and Neff were calculated for photon energy range 1 keV–100 GeV. The Aeff was calculated using fast neutron removal cross-sections (ΣR) for neutron energy 2–12 MeV. The effective atomic number using fast neutron ΣR was evaluated for compound/composite materials first time. The compounds or mixture containing low as well high atomic weight elements are required for fast neutron shielding. The Mg (BH4)2, TiH2 and ZrH2 hydride and borohydride metals are found to be the superior shielding materials. This study should be useful for design of effective shielding using hydrides and borohydrides metals in fusion reactors.