‎Simulation of neutron and gamma shielding for an inertial electrostatic confinement fusion device‎

In this work, neutron and gamma shielding were simulated using MCNPX code for an inertial electrostatic confinement Fusion (IECF) device. In this regard, various properties of shields were investigated. Portland reinforced concrete was considered as the first layer. In addition to being effective in reducing the dosage of fast neutrons, concrete layer was also considerably effective in reducing the dose of gamma rays. As for the second and third layers, we opted for paraffin and boric acid based. These layers were chosen based on parameters such as lethargy, macroscopic slowing down power (MSDP), etc. in order to reduce the speed of epithermal neutrons and then absorb the thermal neutrons, thus reducing the transmitted neutron dosage as much as possible. A layer lead was used after these three layers of shielding to attenuate the gamma ray reaching this layer. In this study, a fusion source based on D-T fuel with homogeneous and isotropic radiation of neutrons was used and then dosimetry was performed for different parts. Afterwards, the thickness of the shielding layers was optimized in such a way that the neutron and gamma doses were reduced according to the standards. We found that it is possible to achieve safe neutron and gamma fluxes and doses by applying about ۵ layers of ۵۰ cm thickness. We compared the results of our study with the those of another study done on shielding for the IECF device, which were in good agreement.

Keywords:

MCNPX code , IECF device , Neutron , gamma , dose , Flux , Shielding