Shielding performance of newly developed boron-loaded concrete for DT neutrons

Abstract

ABSTRACT In order to enhance the neutron-shielding performance of concrete in neutron-generation facilities from the viewpoint of reduction of effective dose rates in operation and radioactive wastes in decommission, we developed concrete with boron of more than 10 wt%. We performed a neutron-shielding experiment using the mockup of the newly developed boron-loaded concrete and Deuterium Tritium (DT)neutrons at the Fusion Neutronics Source in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and measured the reaction rates of 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb and 197Au(n,γ)198Au reactions in the mockup. The calculations were conducted using MCNP-5.14 and FENDL-2.1. The calculation results agreed well with the measured ones, and we confirmed that the accuracy was very good on the atomic composition data of boron-loaded concrete and their nuclear data. In addition, we calculated the neutron and photon effective dose rates and reaction rates of 59Co(n,γ)60Co and 151Eu(n,γ)152Eu reactions, which produce critical radioisotopes in decommission, in boron-loaded concrete and other concretes with DT neutrons, and the experimental condition presently used. The dose rates and reaction rates were drastically reduced by using boron-loaded concrete and it was concluded that boron-loaded concrete had very good shielding performance for DT neutrons.