Estimation of radiation protection ability of borate glass system doped with CdO, PbO, and TeO2

Abstract

This report presents the gamma-rays and neutron interacting parameters of the newly developed xCdO – 20PbO–10TeO2 – (69-x) B2O3–1CuO glass system with the view to applying them for nuclear protection uses. The glasses were coded as CdPTBCu1 – 4 representing molar concentration of CdO form 0–15%. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of the glasses at gamma radiation energies 662–2506 keV were estimated using FLUKA. Monte Carlo simulation and NIST library. The simulation results compared well with that of NIST library within 2% margin. The MAC declines with energy but generally increases as CdO concentration increases in the glasses. At 0.284 MeV, the MAC values of CdPTBCu1, CdPTBCu2, CdPTBCu3, and CdPTBCu4 were equal to 2.459×10−1, 2.458×10−1, 2.457×10−1, and 2.447×10−1 cm2/g, respectively. While at 2.51 MeV, the values were 4.023×10−2, 4.023×10−2, 3.982×10−2, and 3.994×10−2 cm2/g, respectively. Other photon shielding factors like the effective atomic layer, transmission factor, self-absorption correction factor, and mean free path show that the increase in CdO content improves the photon shielding abilities of CdPTBCu specimens. Furthermore, the fast neutron removal cross section (ΣR) and their total thermal neutron cross section (σT) of the glasses were estimated. ΣR increased from 0.10211 to 0.10775 cm−1 while σT grew from 111.21 to 442.73 b. The increase in CdO content had a positive impact on the photon, fast, and thermal neutron shielding ability of the CdPTBCu glasses. Comparatively, the photon and neutron shielding ability of the present glass system is superior to some conventional and recently studied glass shields. The CdPTBCu glasses are thus potentially useful as photon and neutron absorbers for nuclear radiation protection applications.