Effect of Nb2O5 inclusion on the radiation shielding efficiency of TeO2-ZnO-LiF-NaF glass system

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of Nb2O5 inclusion on the optical, photon absorption, fast neutron moderation, and thermal neutron absorption features of 75TeO2 - 10ZnO - 5LiF - (10-x)Nb2O5 - xNaF (where x = 10, 6, and 2 mol %) glasses that are denoted by TLFZNN1, TLFZNN2, and TLFZNN3, respectively, as x increases. The linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) and associated parameters were estimated by the use of FLUKA simulations and XCOM computations. Analysis of the estimated shielding parameters shows that, at equal photon energy, LAC increases as Nb2O5 content of the glasses increases relative to NAF. The LAC changed in the range of 0.7892 - 0.1836, 0.8238 - 0.1941, and 0.846 - 0.2015 for 0.284 <= E <= 2.506 MeV. The half value layer (HVL) is observed in the order of TLFZNN1 > TLFZNN2 > TLFZNN3. This trend indicated that there is an increase in the radiation protection efficiency of the glasses as the density (rho(g)) and Nb2O5 content increases. Z(eff) varies between 21.27 and 27.85, 21.18 - 27.59, and 21.20 - 27.42 for TLFZNN1, TLFZNN2, and TLFZNN3 correspondingly. Fast neutron removal cross section Sigma(R) and total thermal neutron cross section st are also estimated for the glasses. Sigma(R) grew from 0.0967 to 0.1057 cm(-1) while st decays with Nb2O5 content increased in the glasses. Compared to standard shielding glasses and concrete, the TLFZNN glasses show outstanding shielding abilities.