Speakers - 2026

Title: Development of high density lead oxide doped borate glasses for radiation shielding applications

Abstract

The safe management of nuclear waste remains a pressing concern due to the detrimental effects of ionizing radiation on human health and the environment. Despite advancements in nuclear technology, the storage and disposal of radioactive waste pose significant challenges. In this work, high density 80B2O3+5Al2O3+15ZnO+Pb3O4 (where x= 0, 10, 20, and 30 mol%) glass have been fabricated via melt quench techniques as alternative nuclear waste storage. The density of the glass was enhanced from 3.41 to 6.168 g/cm3 with corresponding increase in molar volume from 21.41 to 41.80 cm3/mol for the undoped and doped 30 mol% Pb3O4. The glass’s refractive index increased from 2.416 to 2.565 resulting from narrowing of the glass band gap from 2.93 to 2.45 eV. The radiation attenuation properties evaluated via PHITS monte Carlo software and XCOM program show enhancement in linear attenuation coefficient and mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of gamma radiation, increasing from 23.9074 to 84.2378 cm-1 and from 81.2853 to 519.5786 cm2/g at 0.015 MeV for the undoped and doped 30 ml% Pb3O4. The gamma radiation transmission factor (TF) decreases with increasing glass thickness, while the radiation protection efficiency (RPE) approaches nearly 100% for 0.2 MeV gamma energy at a thickness of 2.5 cm in the glass sample containing 30 mol% Pb3O4. The fast neutron effective removal cross section measured 0.1171 and 0.1138 cm-1 while the thermal neutrons capture cross section were 0.6849 and 0.1644 cm(-1) for the undoped and doped 30 mol% Pb3O4 glass, respectively. The glasses exhibit excellent photon and neutron shielding properties, demonstrating their potential as effective materials for radiation shielding applications against ionizing radiation.