DETERMINATION OF SHIELDING THICKNESS FOR A NUCLEAR REACTOR BY MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS USING RANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS

Abstract

Shielding is done in a nuclear reactor to stop the radiation effects which are caused by it. The radiation effects which are caused by it cannot be undone and have severe impact on our health as well as to the environment. Hence, firstly we measure the impact that the neutrons have and then we shield it through concrete. A concrete shield is used because it has the highest neutron absorption cross section as well as it can stop secondary gamma radiation. In this project, we have used Monte Carlo simulations to simulate the shielding of nuclear reactor using random number generators. Our results show that as the thickness of the shield increases the number of neutrons absorbed and reflected increases because higher number of collisions occur as the thickness increases. Also, the transmitted neutrons decreases as the thickness increases because less number of particles goes on without collision. Moreover, in this project we have also calculated the variation of average energy of the neutrons, which decreases as we increase the shield thickness.