Radiation shielding for inertial electrostatic confinement fusion system utilizing concrete and water

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In this investigation, the impact of water thickness and various types of concrete materials, each characterized by different densities and elemental compositions, is examined for their role in shielding a radiation generator based on Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion (IECF) device. The study focuses on assessing several vital parameters, including the effective removal cross-section (∑Rt) for fast neutrons, total mass attenuation coefficients (μmt), linear attenuation coefficients (μl), half-value layer (HVL), and mean free path (MFP) for X-rays across different concrete types. Different water thicknesses around the IECF chamber, ranging from 0.5 to 10.0 cm, are investigated, and five concrete types are evaluated: Ilmenite-magnetite Concrete (IMC), Ordinary Concrete-1 (OC1), Barite-containing Concrete (BC), Ordinary Concrete-2 (OC2), and Serpentine-containing Concrete (SC). The results indicate that, among these materials, SC requires the least thickness to attenuate 2.45 MeV generated from IECF to 1/100th of its initial intensity across varying water thicknesses (6.5 cm in case of 5 cm water thickness). The values of μmt, HVL, and MFP are also calculated for different water thicknesses and X-ray energies (ranging from 0.2 to 3.0 MeV). These calculations highlight BC as the material requiring the least thickness to attenuate X-rays to 1/100th of their initial intensity. Moreover, neutron dose rate measurements are conducted on a commercial IECF system shielded with 50 cm of water and operated at a neutron intensity of 105 ns−1, which was ∼12 nSv/h on average, approximately 0.002% of the initial intensity. This underscores the efficacy of water shielding in attenuating the outcomes of IECF.