Evaluation of shielding performance and light emission characteristics of luminescent radiation shields using Gd₂O₂S

ABSTRACT

Gadolinium oxysulfide (Gd₂O₂S: GOS) has a large absorption cross-section for thermal neutrons and a mass density similar to that of iron used for shielding against X and γ-ray radiation. During GOS scintillator production process, its waste is also generated. If GOS waste can be used as an effective shielding material, it is worthwhile as beneficial use of the waste. We developed a novel radiation-shielding material using GOS waste. The developed shielding material can shield X, γ-rays and thermal neutrons more efficiently than conventional shielding materials and emit visible light due to leaked radiation when the shielding material is damaged, which subsequently be used to check the integrity of shielding using visible light. In this study, two types of shields, concrete and mortar with GOS as the aggregate and epoxy resin with GOS were prototyped and tested for radiation transmission. Results indicate that GOS shielding has a 10% higher shielding ability for X and γ-rays than heavy concrete with iron as aggregate. Additionally, the same shielding effect for thermal neutrons was attained at 1/10 the thickness of heavy concrete. Thus, using GOS waste is not only cost effective but also contributes to a circular economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Radiation shielding
• X-ray
• γ-ray
• neutron
• gadolinium oxysulfide
• GOS
• scintillator
• concrete
• mortar
• epoxy resin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2366025.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.