Plastic Radiation Shielding

[radtech497]

http://www.azom.com/news.aspx?newsID=37134

Apparently, plastic can make for an effective radiation shield.

It has been known since at least the 1940s that materials with a high hydrogen content, such as paraffin and plastics, are very effective at attenuating alpha and beta radiation, and thermal neutrons, but much less so in the case of x-rays and gamma radiation. Apparently, this has not changed appreciably in the intervening seven decades. According to the specifications given at http://www.hybridplastics.com/docs/tds/neushield.pdf for a polyethylene impregnated with gadolinium, 7.6 millimeters of plastic attenuates 1 MeV gamma radiation by 12.3%. While additional thickness would result in greater attenuation, at some point the thickness becomes prohibitive. Radiation with energies greater than 1 MeV (most cosmic rays, for example) will be attenuated even less. So, in general, while plastics can make effective radiation shields, likely design trade-offs will limit their usability in that regard.

Radtech497