Review of British Standard BS 4094-1:1966 part 1: data on shielding from gamma radiation

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British Standard BS 4094-1:1966 Part 1 (entitled ‘Data on Shielding from Ionizing Radiation Part 1: Shielding from Gamma Radiation’) provides a series of transmission curves (the figure 2 series) which illustrate the attenuation of gamma radiation from 11 isotopes through a variety of absorber media. As such it is widely utilised across the nuclear industry and other sectors. However, British Standard BS4094-1:1966 was collated over 50 years ago when both computer codes and nuclear data were significantly less advanced than they are today. This paper reproduces the British Standard figure 2 series in order to benchmark it against modern computer codes (specifically MCNP 6.2 and RANKERN) and data taken from more modern nuclear data libraries. The results show good agreement in the majority of cases. However, there are some significant discrepancies in a number of isotope/absorber combinations and in some of these cases British Standard BS 4094-1:1966 Part 1 may not be conservative. This paper concludes that a modern revision to British Standard BS 4094-1:1966 Part 1 would be appropriate and timely.