Evaluation of Radiation Transport Through a Nuclear-Grade Sandwich Composite

The development and deployment of microreactors is often synonymous with their transportability; however, designing a shield that is appropriate for both transportation and operations is challenging. A recent approach is the use of a composite style shield that combines the reactor pressure vessel and biological shielding into a single unit to enhance the shield’s effectiveness without degrading the structural properties. To assess the viability of a nuclear-grade sandwich composite (NGSC), understanding how radiation transports through the shield needs to be assessed to select the appropriate materials. This work examines a two-layered NGSC of varying thicknesses with two primary shielding materials (tungsten-tetraboride cermet and boron carbide). To assess the NGSC, this work examined quantities of interest, including neutron attenuation, photon attenuation, energy deposition, displacements per atom, helium generation, and dose. Overall, a combination of both tungsten-tetraboride and boron carbide is necessary to act as an appropriate shield, where the order in which these materials are placed in the composite is important to their effectiveness.