• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2335-2347
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• 2023

As medical facilities are usually built at urban areas, special concrete aggregates and evaluation methods are needed to optimize the design of concrete walls by balancing density, thickness, material composition, cost, and other factors. Carbon treatment rooms require a high radiation shielding requirement, as the neutron yield from carbon therapy is much higher than the neutron yield of protons. In this case study, the maximum carbon energy is 430 MeV/u and the maximum current is 0.27 nA from a hybrid particle therapy system. Hospital or facility construction should consider this requirement to design a special heavy concrete. In this work, magnetite is adopted as the major aggregate. Density is determined mainly by the major aggregate content of magnetite, and a heavy concrete test block was constructed for structural tests. The compressive strength is 35.7 MPa. The density ranges from 3.65 g/cm³ to 4.14 g/cm³, and the iron mass content ranges from 53.78% to 60.38% from the 12 cored sample measurements. It was found that there is a linear relationship between density and iron content, and mixing impurities should be the major reason leading to the nonuniform element and density distribution. The effect of this nonuniformity on radiation shielding properties for a carbon treatment room is investigated by three groups of Monte Carlo simulations. Higher density dominates to reduce shielding thickness. However, a higher content of high-Z elements will weaken the shielding strength, especially at a lower dose rate threshold and vice versa. The weakened side effect of a high iron content on the shielding property is obvious at 2.5 µSv=h. Therefore, we should not blindly pursue high Z content in engineering. If the thickness is constrained to 2 m, then the density can be reduced to 3.3 g/cm³, which will save cost by reducing the magnetite composition with 50.44% iron content. If a higher density of 3.9 g/cm³ with 57.65% iron content is selected for construction, then the thickness of the wall can be reduced to 174.2 cm, which will save space for equipment installation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.5
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• pp.499-516
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• 2023

To defend against harmful gamma radiation, new types of materials for use in the construction of heavyweight concrete (HWC) are still needed to be developed. This research introduces new materials to be employed as a partial replacement for fine aggregate (FA) to manufacture high-performance heavyweight concrete (HPHWC). These materials include hematite, black sand, ilmenite, and magnetite, with substitution ratios of 50% and 100% of FA. In this research, the hardening and fresh characteristics of HPHWC were obtained. Concrete samples' Gamma-ray linear attenuation coefficient was evaluated utilizing a gamma source of Co-60 through the thicknesses of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, and 15 cm. High temperatures were studied for HPHWC samples, which were exposed to up to 700℃ for two hours. Energy-dispersive x-rays and a scanning electron microscope carried out microstructure analyses. Magnetite as an FA attained the lowest compressive strength of 87.1 MPa, but the best radiation protection characteristics and the highest density of 3100 kg/m³ were achieved. After 28 days, the attenuation efficiency of concrete mixtures was increased by 6.5% when fine sand was replaced with black sand at a ratio of 50%. HPHWC, which contains hematite, black sand, ilmenite, and magnetite, is designed to reduce environmental and health dangers and be used in medicinal, military, and civil applications.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2017

Mechanical properties and neutron shielding performance of concrete with amorphous boron steel fiber have been investigated in this study. The measurement of this investigation includes air contents, slump loss, compressive strength, flexural strength, flexural toughness and neutron shielding rate. Four different fiber volume fractions were selected ranging from 0.25% to 1.0% by volume for the amorphous boron steel fibers. The testing results showed that the flexural toughness and the neutron shielding rate were increase with the increase of volume fraction for amorphous boron steel fiber. Based on the result, it is concluded that the concrete with the amorphous boron steel fiber can be effectively applied to shield the neutron and to improve mechanical properties.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2017

Rather than causing damage from heat, blast, and radiation of a regular nuclear weapon, recently, it is predicted that North Korea has been inventing high altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) missile in order to incapacitate electronic equipment. HEMP shielding facility is used for military purpose today. Despite the electromagnetic shielding effects from high quality compression plates, problems may include such as the possibility of electromagnetic influx resulting in the welding of the compression plates, and difficulties and high cost of construction. Therefore, in this study, a high electrical conducting material was added to the concrete experimental subject to ensure the shielding effect through electromagnetic waves to for the concrete structure, instead of building a shielding facility separately for the structure. Also, among the experimental subjects, 100 ${\mu}m$ of Iron-Aluminum alloy metal spraying coat was applied to two types with the highest shielding effect, and to two types with the lowest shielding effect. The result of the experiment indicates that experimental subjects added with a high electrical conductivity material did not meet the minimum shielding criteria of MIL-STD-118-125-1 standard, but all the experimental material applied to the metal spraying coating satisfied the minimum shielding criteria. In conclusion, it is considered that 100 µm of Iron-Aluminum alloy metal spraying coat contains high efficiency in the HEMP shielding.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.149-161
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• 1970

This paper describes a detailed investigational performance on the gamma radiation shield effect of heavy concretes that were manufactured by the use of mineral ores produced domestically and which may be possibly applied for the biological shield design. Ten different kinds of mineral ores were collected for use as the aggregates, physical test and chemical analysis for them were carried out to select the aggregate with a better property. Through the experimental investigation on the shielding effect of various concretes with different combination of concrete components such as water-cement and fine-coarse aggregate ratios, it was possible to derive some criteria for the best condition being capable of obtaining the concretes with high density and good uniformity. Data on the shielding-effectiveness of the different concretes were obtained by performing collimated beam experiment using 60Co gamma-ray. Analyzing the shielding-efficiency, shielding-concrete specific gravity and biological shield cost, the optimum condition of yielding the best economic shielding design, with low cost and good spatial distribution to some extent was determined.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1230-1236
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• 2016

This study aims to determine the effect of fly ash with a high replacing ratio of clay on the radiation shielding properties of bricks. Some interaction parameters (mass attenuation coefficients, half value layer, effective atomic number, effective electron density, and absorption efficiency) of clay fly ash bricks were measured with a NaI(Tl) detector at 661.6 keV, 1,173.2 keV, and 1,332.5 keV. For the investigation of their shielding behavior, fly ash bricks were molded using an admixture to clay. A narrow beam transmission geometry condition was used for the measurements. The measured values of these parameters were found in good agreement with the theoretical calculations. The elemental compositions of the clay fly ash bricks were analyzed by using an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. At selected energies the values of the effective atomic numbers and effective electron densities showed a very modest variation with the composition of the fly ash. This seems to be due to the similarity of their elemental compositions. The obtained results were also compared with concrete, in order to study the effect of fly ash content on the radiation shielding properties of clay fly ash bricks. The clay fly ash bricks showed good shielding properties for moderate energy gamma rays. Therefore, these bricks are feasible and eco-friendly compared with traditional clay bricks used for construction.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2012

In order to dispose of the LILW(low and intermediate level radioactive waste) stored at KAERI, the radwaste drum assay system will be introduced to evaluate the radioisotopes inventory of stored drums. At present, the construction project of the dedicated assay facility to operate it and carry out routine maintenance of that equipment has been conducting at the radwaste treatment facility. Since that facility will be constructed in front of a 1st radwaste storage facility as well as the radwaste drums to be assayed and the transmission source in the radwaste drum assay system are in that facility, they could act as the radioactive sources and then, would affect the dose rate at the inside and the outside of the facility. Therefore, the radiation shielding should be evaluated through the concrete wall near to the radioactive sources whether the wall thickness is sufficient against the regulations. In this study, the radiation safety for the concrete wall around the radiation controlled area in the radwaste drum assay facility was evaluated by the MCNP code. From the evaluation results, the thickness of those concrete walls which are under consideration of about 30 cm was enough to shield the radiation from the radioactive sources.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.2607-2612
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• 2020

The present work was aimed to show the possibility of using hydrogel (acrylic/boric acid) for evaluation of the neutron radiation shielding. The influence of acrylic acid concentration, different gamma doses and relative contents of boric acid were studied. The physical properties and the thermomechanical stability of the studied samples were investigated. The shielding property of the composite for neutron was tested by Pu-Be neutron source (5 Ci) under room temperature. The neutron fluence rates and gamma fluxes were measured using a stilbene organic scintillator. The macroscopic effective removal cross-section Σ_R (cm^-1) of fast neutrons and total attenuation coefficient μ (cm^-1) of gamma rays has been studied experimentally. The transmission parameters, the relaxation length (??) and the half-value layer (HVL) were obtained. The obtained results indicated that the addition of boric acid to acrylic acid tends to increase the macroscopic effective removal cross-section Σ_R (cm^-1) to 0.141 compared to 0.094 of ordinary concrete.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2003

The concrete is usually used to build a radiation therapy facility and the enough concrete thickness for high energy x-ray beam is about 1 meter. But if the space is not enough to build a radiation therapy facility with concrete, the substitute for concrete is needed, and the Ledite can be a good substitute for concrete. In this study, we compared the Ledite with the concrete. The comparing list are the needed shielding thickness, the period of construction and the cost.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2828-2834
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• 2024

This research intends to recycle bone and incorporate it into concrete for radiation shielding application using Phy-X/PSD software. Cement, sand and granite were mixed in proportion of 0.5 kg:1 kg:1 kg to obtain sample A. Other concretes composing of cement, sand, granite and bone ash was in proportion 0.45 kg:1 kg:1 kg:0.05 kg, 0.1 kg:1 kg:1 kg:0.4 kg and 0.35 kg:1 kg:1 kg:0.15 kg to obtain samples B, C and D respectively. 0.5 water-to-cement (W/C) ratio was adopted throughout the mixes because the control mix contain the normal water quantity for normal hydration of cement. Replacing the bone ash for the cement in the fabricated concretes enhances their densities where the fabricated concretes' density decreased from 2.33 g/cm³ to 2.22 g/cm³ by raising the reinforcing bones fly ash concentration from 0 to 0.15 kg. Additionally, increasing the bones fly ash concentration within the fabricated concretes increases their linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) where the fabricated concretes' μ values at 0.662 MeV reach 0.181 cm^-1, 0.178 cm^-1, 0.174 cm^-1, and 0.171 cm^-1, respectively for concretes A, B, C, and D. The use of other local materials is recommended, as it improves waste management being the major aim of the sustainable development goal.