Development of new heavy concretes containing chrome-ore for nuclear radiation shielding applications

Highlights: • 4 different type of new heavy concrete shielding material have been developed and produced. • Gamma-ray and fast neutron shielding parameters were calculated. • Experimentally equivalent dose measurements have been carried out. • All new type samples have both gamma and fast neutron radiation absorption ability. In this study, four newly developed chromium ore based new heavy concretes containing different types of minerals (chromium ore, hematite (Fe₂O₃), titanium oxide (TiO₂), limonite (FeO(OH)nH₂O), and siderite (FeCO₃) and compounds (galena (PbS), chromium oxide (Cr₂O₃) and manganese oxide (MnO₂) were investigated for neutron and gamma shielding effectiveness. It was observed that the developed concretes have strength up to 30 MPa (4351.131 psi) using mechanical stress tests. In addition, temperature resistance tests were carried out and the results were found to be up to desired level. GEANT4 simulation was employed to determine the effective removal cross-section ΣR (cm⁻¹), transmission number mean free path (MFP), and half value layer (HVL) of the concretes. The equivalent dose rate of fast neutron was calculated using Am–Be source and BF₃ proportional counter. Gamma-ray shielding properties mass attenuation coefficients, half-value layer, mean free path, and effective atomic number of the concretes were assessed in the energy range between 0.015 and 15 MeV. The obtained results were compared with paraffin, ordinary concretes, and some heavy concretes. Both theoretical and experimental calculations have shown that all new heavy concretes are capable of absorbing high rates of gamma and neutron radiation than reference samples. In particular, the D3 sample has the maximum neutron attenuation dose value, which contains 55% chromium ore. D2 is superior gamma shielding concrete and this contains 60% chromium ore, 10% hematite, 5% TiO₂ and 5% PbS. The new developed concretes are found to be alternative shielding material for the nuclear energy applications.