The effect of boron waste on the radiation shielding properties of cement

Cement is an important material for concrete which is the main construction material in building construction, and thus, it has been always one of the main topics to improve cement production for researcher. This is besides physical and mechanical properties that also include radiation-related works. This is because of using radiation in a variety of different fields and keeping safe human from its possible hazardous effect. Thus, in this study, some radiological parameters of three types of cement have been calculated at gamma ray energies of 10–3-105 MeV. Those parameters are mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mean free path (mfp), half value length (HVL), tenth value length (TVL), atomic cross section (ACS), electronic cross section (ECS), effective atomic number (Zeff), effective electron density (Neff) and effective conductivity (Ceff). For the case of neutron attenuation, fast neutron removal cross section (FNRCS) was obtained. The calculations were done using Phy-X/PSD software. With the simulation, it was seen that boron is an ideal material for neutron shielding while it is not recommended for gamma ray shielding. This was seen in all parameters obtained to predict gamma ray shielding properties of boron-added cement.