Flexible heat-resistant neutron and gamma-ray shielding resins

Abstract

Flexible heat-resistant neutron and gamma-ray shielding resins have been successfully developed through the use of a polymer resin. The production process involves a new mixing technique of the resin and materials for neutron absorber/gamma-ray attenuation using a new cold-setting method. The process allows for easy onsite fabrication. The materials are B 4 C powder for neutron shield, Colemanite powder for neutron/gamma-ray shield and FeW powder for gamma-ray shield, respectively. We assessed a basic property and neutron penetration performance of the neutron/gamma-ray shielding resin and carried out a neutron irradiation test of the resin using Japan Research Reactor 3. Gamma-ray shielding performance of the developed resin with FeW powder was performed by using a Monte-Carlo calculation code. The neutron and gamma-ray shielding resins can be used in a high-temperature environment (~200 C). These resins will be applied around tokamak fusion devices as an additional shielding: they can reduce neutron and gamma-ray streaming from the device.