Analysis for the secondary gamma-ray emission for glasses irradiated with various doses of fast neutron: Case study borate and silicate glasses

Abstract

Are borate and silicate glasses suitable for working as shieling materials against fast neutrons?To correctly answer the above question, some silicate, and borate-based glasses were fabricated and irradiated with various doses of fast neutrons varied between 1.73 and 12.10 MGy. The color and hardness of the fabricated glasses were affected by the fast neutron fluence where the transparent glasses turned colored as well as the hardness of the fabricated glasses was decreased. The gamma-ray spectrometric analysis shows a high activity concentration produced in the barium borate glasses due to the formation of radioisotopes Ba-131 and Ba-133 reaches to 5.92E+05 Bq and 4.25E+03 Bq, respectively for sample Cd-5 Batch 3. Additionally, the gamma-ray spectrometric analysis for the sodium silicate glasses shows low activity concentrations emitted from isotopes formed due to the activation of Y2O3-associated impurities. These activities are low compared to that emitted by barium borate-based glasses.

Keywords

• Secondary gamma emission
• Nuclear research reactor
• Fast neutrons
• Borate glasses
• Silicate glasses