New Trends in Ionizing Radiation Shielding Research and Development

This thesis deals with the problem of shielding ionizing radiation which is a beam that has enough energy to ionize an atom or a molecule of an irradiated substance. This radiation can occur in nuclear facilities such as a nuclear power plant, a particle accelerator, or in X-rays in healthcare. Until now, standard shielding materials, most often lead or concrete, have been used to protect against ionizing radiation. New trends are therefore trying to replace these materials with lighter, more effective and harmless materials. The practical part is focused on measure the data to obtain the basic properties of shielding materials, such as the attenuation factor and the buildup factor. A measuring platform is described here, which can be used to measure the data needed to calculate the attenuation factor and the buildup factor. The measurement results are compared with tabular values to determine the accuracy of the measurements. Furthermore, the results of measurements of five concrete materials from the company MICo, spol. s r.o. To obtain theoretical values, the simulation program MCNP6 was used, in which it is possible to create a model of the measuring platform, which was used in practical measurements. Next the shielding material, source and detector are defined. The result lead again to the data needed to determine the attenuation factor. The results of measurement and simulation data in MCNP6 are evaluated and graphically processed into such a form that it is possible to compare the properties of shielding materials with each other