Vietnamese natural stone materials for γ-ray shielding purposes: an extensive theoretical and experimental study

The cost of protecting modern nuclear engineering installations is 20-30% of the cost of the facility. Therefore, optimization of the composition of radiation protection materials is an important measure to reduce the total cost of radiation protection at maximum protective properties of materials. At the same time, the use of natural resources, the deposits of which are located near these facilities, makes a significant contribution to minimizing the costs of the construction of the nuclear power plant.

Composite radiation protection materials (REM) with a matrix (glass, polymers, cement, etc.), which contains various fillers, play an important role as protective materials when using radiation technologies. At the same time, it becomes possible to design the optimal composition of fillers in relation to the planned irradiation conditions, which are determined by the isotopic composition of radioactive contaminants. Both natural materials and industrial waste can be used as fillers, which helps to solve the problem of their removal (in this case, their disposal).

The article presents the results of computational and experimental studies of samples of natural minerals from the northern part of Vietnam, representing one of the stages of a complex of studies of the radiation-protective properties of natural minerals and their combinations, as well as industrial waste to assess the potential possibility of their use as part of building materials for radiation protection of nuclear energy facilities (OIAE), which are conducted more than 10 years at the Department of Nuclear Power Plants and Renewable Energy of UrFU.

To calculate the radiation-protective properties of minerals using the XCOM database, the sample densities were determined by the Archimedes method using the MH-300A density meter, and the chemical composition of the samples was studied using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in the laboratory of the Egyptian Nuclear Materials Administration (Cairo). Experimental studies of the shielding properties of the samples were carried out using the Robotron spectrometric installation using a cesium-137 gamma source.

The results of the study of 8 samples of natural materials showed that green granite (sample GG 8.2), mined in Sapa, can be used as a concrete filler in the construction of nuclear power plants and other nuclear energy facilities in Vietnam.

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