Investigation of gamma-ray shielding properties of bismuth borotellurite glasses using MCNPX code and XCOM program

Gamma-ray shielding properties of bismuth tellurium borate glass system doped with NdCl3 has a nominal composition of 65B(2)O(3) - 12.5 Bi2O3 - 12.5TeO(2) -(10 - x) Na2O - xNdCl(3) (where 0 <= x <= 10 mol%) have been investigated. The mass attenuation coefficients (mu/rho) for the present samples have been calculated at nine energy values (between 0.122 and 1.33 MeV) using the MCNPX code and XCOM program and the obtained data in the two methods were compared to check the accuracy in the MCNPX results. The results revealed that mu/rho values gradually increase with the increase of NdCl3 from 0 to 10 mol%. The effective atomic number (Z(eff)), half value layer, and the mean free bath also were calculated. The results showed that the addition of NdCl3 in the present glass system improves the shielding performance of the B2O3-TeO2-Bi2O3-NdCl3-Na2O glass system against gamma radiation.