Investigation of Developed Shield Composition to Neutron Shielding in Treatment Room for BNCT to Reduce Clinical Effects

One of the best radiotherapy methods that have been suggested for the treatment of cancers such as brain, head and neck, skin, and recently liver is boron neutron capture therapy. Therefore, neutron shielding in the treatment room is important because the absorption of neutrons in the shield may lead to the production of gamma rays, which can have destructive effects. While an increase in density of the elements used in the shield is generally sufficient for gamma radiation shielding, protection against neutrons is more complicated. It is due to variations in neutron interactions with the matter based on their kinetic energy and reaction cross-sections with the shield component atoms.

In this paper, it will be developed a neutron shield that is a proper shield against ionizing radiation, will be accomplished via the use of experiment-based optimization of materials backed by Monte Carlo simulations. Also, the neutron shielding characteristics of conventional and heavy-weight shields modified with epoxy resin and gadolinium oxide were investigated. The shielding effectiveness against neutrons was initially modeled using the MCNP code. In the end, the comparison of MCNP simulated results and the real experiment was presented.

Gadolinium is an efficient additive for weakening low-energy neutrons, but it does not have a good effect in terms of shielding against fast neutrons. Also, Epoxy resin improves the shielding property of the composite against neutron radiation.

The results show that the addition of the polymers used in composite shielding and the proposed method for developing the neutron shield can improve the shielding characteristics for neutron beams.