Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter

What is Water as a gamma radiation shielding – Definition

by
Although water is neither high density nor high Z material, it is commonly used as gamma shields. Its disadvantages are compensated with increased thickness. Radiation Dosimetry

Water as a gamma radiation shielding

In short, effective shielding of gamma radiation is in most cases based on use of materials with two following material properties:

  • high-density of material.
  • high atomic number of material  (high Z materials)
Table of Half Value Layers (in cm)
Table of Half Value Layers (in cm) for a different materials at gamma ray energies of 100, 200 and 500 keV.

Although water is neither high density nor high Z material, it is commonly used as gamma shields. Water provides a radiation shielding of fuel assemblies in a spent fuel pool during storage or during transports from and into the reactor core. Although water is a low-density material and low Z material, it is commonly used in nuclear power plants, because these disadvantages can be compensated with increased thickness.

Half Value Layer of Water

The half value layer expresses the thickness of absorbing material needed for reduction of the incident radiation intensity by a factor of two.

Table of Half Value Layers (in cm) for a different materials at gamma ray energies of 100, 200 and 500 keV.

 
References:
Reactor Physics and Thermal Hydraulics:
  1. J. R. Lamarsh, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1983).
  2. J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.
  3. W. M. Stacey, Nuclear Reactor Physics, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN: 0- 471-39127-1.
  4. Glasstone, Sesonske. Nuclear Reactor Engineering: Reactor Systems Engineering, Springer; 4th edition, 1994, ISBN: 978-0412985317
  5. Todreas Neil E., Kazimi Mujid S. Nuclear Systems Volume I: Thermal Hydraulic Fundamentals, Second Edition. CRC Press; 2 edition, 2012, ISBN: 978-0415802871
  6. Zohuri B., McDaniel P. Thermodynamics in Nuclear Power Plant Systems. Springer; 2015, ISBN: 978-3-319-13419-2
  7. Moran Michal J., Shapiro Howard N. Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, Fifth Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN: 978-0-470-03037-0
  8. Kleinstreuer C. Modern Fluid Dynamics. Springer, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4020-8670-0.
  9. U.S. Department of Energy, THERMODYNAMICS, HEAT TRANSFER, AND FLUID FLOW. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1, 2 and 3. June 1992.

See also:

Water

We hope, this article, Water as a gamma radiation shielding, helps you. If so, give us a like in the sidebar. Main purpose of this website is to help the public to learn some interesting and important information about radiation and dosimeters.