Evaluation of radiation shielding potentials of Ni-based alloys, Inconel-617 and Incoloy-800HT, candidates for high temperature applications especially for nuclear reactors, by EpiXS and Phy-X/PSD codes

Abstract

In this paper, our purpose is to calculate photon-matter interaction parameters of Ni-based alloys, Inconel-617 and Incoloy-800HT, which are the main candidates for high-temperature applications such as spacecraft, gas turbines, nuclear reactors and rocket motors. The radiation attenuation parameters and buildup factors were obtained in a wide energy range by using Phy-X/PSD and EpiXS softwares to determine the radiation protection capabilities of the alloys. Fast neutron removal cross sections of the alloys were also calculated. It was observed that Inconel-617 has higher shielding ability than Incoloy-800HT. The shielding potentials of the alloys were compared with those of other shielding materials (ordinary concrete, hematite-serpenite, ilmenite-limonite, steelscrap, basalt-magnetite, steel-magnetite and ilmenite concretes) reported before, and it was concluded that Inconel-617 and Incoloy-800HT have more shielding ability than those.

Study on Radiation Shielding Characteristics of Refractory High Entropy Alloys by EpiXS Code

“…The MAC values of the RHEAs and previously reported superalloys for some energy values are given in Table II. Rene 77 [18] Rene 80 [18] Rene 95 [18] Inc 617 [19] Inc 800HT [19] In 625 [20] In 718…”

“…At high energies, pair production is dominant, and a strong photon absorption is observed. As a result, the buildup factors decrease at high energies [19,41]. Buildup factors decrease slowly with increasing photon energy (> 1500 keV).…”

“…The alloys used in reactor environments and nuclear applications have been widely investigated previously for their radiation shielding capabilities [18][19][20]. However, the radiation protection potentials of this new class of HEAs, called RHEAs, have not been studied in detail yet.…”

“…EpiXS was produced for photon attenuation, dosimetry, and shielding, which covers a broad energy range 1 keV-1 GeV. EpiXS has been a code widely preferred by researchers lately [19,[23][24][25][26]. The XCOM software [27] was developed in order to estimate MAC values or photon interaction cross-sections of a single element, compound, or composite mixture in a wide energy region of 1 keV-100 GeV.…”

A comprehensive analysis on radiation shielding characteristics of borogypsum (boron waste) by Phy-X/PSD code

“…In order to verify the validity of the Phy-X/PSD program, the MAC values of BG are also calculated by XCom [23] and a good agreement is obtained by both of (100 keV-5 MeV) where the Compton scattering is dominant, MAC values slightly changed. Above 5 MeV, the Pair production process starts and MAC values increased with increasing energy [26]. Additionally, we compared the MAC values of BG with those of other reported shielding materials, ordinary concrete (OC), green clay (GC), red clay (RC), pumice, Nemrut obsidian (NO), marble dust (MD) [27][28][29][30] (Fig.…”