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IAEA project aims to develop polymer irradiation model
The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched a new coordinated research project (CRP) aimed at creating a database of polymer-radiation interactions in the next five years with the long-term goal of using the database to enable machine learning–based predictive models.
Radiation-induced modifications are widely applicable across a range of fields including healthcare, agriculture, and environmental applications, and exposure to radiation is a major factor when considering materials used at nuclear power plants.
R. L. French, J. H. Price
Nuclear Technology | Volume 5 | Number 5 | November 1968 | Pages 334-343
Technical Papers and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT68-A28001
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Ground roughness effects were considered in Monte Carlo calculations of the protection factor of a cylindrical concrete structure exposed to an infinite plane 60Co source (∼1.25 MeV gamma) assumed to be representative of fallout. The “buried-source” model with source depths of 0, 0.5, and 1.0 in. was used to simulate smooth, rough, and very rough ground, respectively. The simple structure had a 10-ft radius and wall thicknesses of 20, 40, and 80 lb/ft2. The quantities calculated included the distributions of energy and of angle of the photons incident upon the structure and at detector heights of 3,13, and 23 ft inside. Ground roughness was found to enhance the protection factor of the structure 1) by reducing the incident radiation intensity and 2) by altering the energy and angle distribution of the incident radiation. The first effect was generally about twice as strong as the latter. Both effects are largest for the 3-ft detector height where, for all wall thicknesses, the protection factors were increased by a factor of ∼4.5 by very rough ground. Calculations performed with the engineering method including ground roughness effects accounted for only ∼75% of the protection factor enhancement, but a simple modification produced results that generally agreed within 10% with the Monte Carlo results. The modification consists of adding a fictitious height to the detector height before evaluating the directional response function Gd(ω,H).