Investigation of Radiation Shielding Properties for Some Soil Samples for Use in Shields against Gamma-Rays from Different Nuclides

Abstract

The variation of radiation shielding parameters like linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half value layer, tenth value layer and mean free path with different soil samples of various chemical compositions and physical properties has been investigated using gamma ray spectrometer NaI(Tl) atthe gamma energies of 360, 662, 1280, 1330 KeV emitted from radioactive isotopes of ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs, ²²Na and ⁶⁰Co, respectively. For this work, soil samples were collected from different sites of Aurangabad, India, and then prepared using standard techniques. The study of attenuation coefficients of various materials has been an important part of research in radiation physics, chemistry, agriculture and human health. This study aims to investigate of radiation shielding properties for various soils of various components. For the attenuation coefficients, a significant variation is observed in low and high energy regions whereas there is no notable change in the intermediate region. The results have been discussed on the basis of obtained attenuation coefficients of different partial photon interaction processes. It is observed that the variation of obtained values of all parameters strongly depends on the photon energy; it decreases or increases due to chemical composition and density of the sample. The study has practical importance to know the nature of the soils in the construction and agricultural purposes. Generally, the radiation shielding parameters determined in this study can be used for determination of gamma emitters in any soil samples.