Development of flexible neutron-shielding resin as an additional shielding material

A soft-type neutron-shielding resin has been developed by improving an existing hard-type neutron-shielding material using the epoxy-based resin as an additional shielding material. A flexible heat-resistant neutron-shielding material has been developed, which consists of a new polymer-based resin with boron. The neutron shielding performance of the developed flexible heat-resistant resin with the 252Cf neutron source is almost the same as that of polyethylene. The outgases of H, H2, NH4, H2O, CO, O2, C4H10, and CO2 from the developed resin have been measured at high temperature (up to 250degC) by thermal desorption spectroscopy methods. The soft-type resin and the newly developed heat-resistant resin will be applied to prevent the effects of neutron streaming and to control the movement of a vibrated pipe as the seal material around the plumbing in the future fast reactor and innovative fission reactor. (author)