Accuracy of a simplified method for shielded gamma-ray skyshine sources

Conference · Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5441680

Bassett, M S; Shultis, J K ^[1]

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1. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan (USA)

Rigorous transport or Monte Carlo methods for estimating far-field gamma-ray skyshine doses generally are computationally intensive. consequently, several simplified techniques such as point-kernel methods and methods based on beam response functions have been proposed. For unshielded skyshine sources, these simplified methods have been shown to be quite accurate from comparisons to benchmark problems and to benchmark experimental results. For shielded sources, the simplified methods typically use exponential attenuation and photon buildup factors to describe the effect of the shield. However, the energy and directional redistribution of photons scattered in the shield is usually ignored, i.e., scattered photons are assumed to emerge from the shield with the same energy and direction as the uncollided photons. The accuracy of this shield treatment is largely unknown due to the paucity of benchmark results for shielded sources. In this paper, the validity of such a shield treatment is assessed by comparison to a composite method, which accurately calculates the energy and angular distribution of photons penetrating the shield.

• OSTI ID: 5441680
• Report Number(s): CONF-891103-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 91-023869
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 60; Conference: Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and nuclear power and technology exhibit, San Francisco, CA (United States), 26-30 Nov 1989; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
GAMMA TRANSPORT THEORY
CALCULATION METHODS
ACCURACY
COBALT 60
DISCRETE ORDINATE METHOD
IRRADIATION
LEGENDRE POLYNOMIALS
PHOTON TRANSPORT
POINT KERNELS
SHIELDING
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COBALT ISOTOPES
FUNCTIONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
KERNELS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NEUTRAL-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
POLYNOMIALS
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RADIOISOTOPES
TRANSPORT THEORY
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOT
654001* - Radiation & Shielding Physics- Radiation Physics
Shielding Calculations & Experiments