Photon Interaction Parameters with Nuclear Materials

Abstract

Photon interaction parameters such as mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic numbers and effective electron densities for thorium, uranium and plutonium compounds have been studied in the present paper. The photon interaction properties for the compounds were investigated for partial interaction processes like photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair production. The values of these parameters have been found to change with photon energy and atomic numbers. The variations of mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic number and electron density with energy are shown graphically. The effective atomic numbers of the compounds vary 28.86 to 60.79 at 1 MeV. Moreover, results have shown that these compounds are better shielding and suggesting smaller dimensions (thickness and volume). The study would be useful for applications of these materials for gamma ray shielding requirement.