• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2011

As you know, boron compounds, borax ($Na_2B_4O_5(OH)_4{\cdot}8H_2O$) etc. were known thousands of years ago. As for natural boron, it has two naturally occurring and stable isotopes, boron 11 ($^{11}B$) and boron 10 ($^{10}B$). The neutron absorption $^{10}B$ is included about 19~20% with 80~81% $^{11}B$. Boron is similar to carbon in its capability to form stable covalently bonded molecular networks. The mass difference results in a wide range of ${\beta}$ values between the $^{11}B$ and $^{10}B$. The $^{10}B$ isotope, stable with 5 neutrons is excellent at capturing thermal neutrons. For example, it is possible to decrease a thermal neutron required for the nuclear reaction of uranium 235 ($^{235}U$). If $^{10}B$ absorbs a neutron ($^1n$), it will change to $^7Li+^1{\alpha}$ (${\alpha}$ ray, like $^4He$) with prompt ${\gamma}$ ray from $^{11}B$ $^{11}B$ (equation 1). $$^{10}B+^1n\;{\rightarrow}\;^{11}B\;{\rightarrow}\; prompt \;{\gamma}\;ray (478 keV), \;^7Li+4{\alpha}\;(4He)\;\;\;\;{\cdots}\; (1)$$ If about 1% boron is added to stainless steel, it is known that a neutron shielding effect will be 3 times the boron free steel. Enriched boron or $^{10}B$ is used in both radiation shielding and in boron neutron capture therapy. Then, $^{10}B$ is used for reactivity control and in emergency shutdown systems in nuclear reactors. Furthermore, boron carbide, $B_4C$, is used as the charge of a nuclear fission reaction control rod material and neutron cover material for nuclear reactors. The $B_4C$ powder of natural B composition is used as a charge of a control material of a boiling water reactor (BWR) which occupies commercial power reactors in nuclear power generation. The $B_4C$ sintered body which adjusted $^{10}B$ concentration is used as a charge of a control material of the fast breeder reactor (FBR) currently developed aiming at establishment of a nuclear fuel cycle. In this study for new boron compound, silicon boride ceramics for capturing thermal neutrons, preparation and characterization of both silicon tetraboride ($SiB_4$) and silicon hexaboride ($SiB_6$) and ceramics produced by sintering were investigated in order to determine the suitability of this material for nuclear power generation. The relative density increased with increasing sintering temperature. With a sintering temperature of 1,923 K, a sintered body having a relative density of more than 99% was obtained. The Vickers hardness increased with increasing sintering temperature. The best result was a Vickers hardness of 28 GPa for the $SiB_6$ sintered at 1,923K for 1 h. The high temperature Vickers hardness of the $SiB_6$ sintered body changed from 28 to 12 GPa in the temperature range of room temperature to 1,273 K. The thermal conductivity of the SiB6 sintered body changed from 9.1 to 2.4 W/mK in the range of room temperature to 1,273 K.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.149-159
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• 2019

Borehole elemental concentration logging, measuring neutron-induced gamma rays by inelastic scattering and neutron capture interactions between neutron and formation, delivers concentrations of the most common elements found in the minerals and fluids of subsurface formation. X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analysis from core samples are traditionally used to understand formation composition and mineralogy, but it represents only part of formations. Additionally, it is difficult to obtain elemental analysis over the whole intervals because of poor core recovery zones such as fractures or sand layers mainly responsible for groundwater flow. The development of borehole technique for in situ elemental analysis plays a key role in assessing subsurface environment. Although this technology has advanced consistently starting from conventional and unconventional resources evaluation, it has been considered as exclusive techniques of some major service company. As regards domestic research and development, it has still remained an unexplored field because of some barriers such as the deficiency of detailed information on tools and calibration facility for chemistry and mineralogy database. This article reviews the basic theory of spectroscopy measurements, system configuration, calibration facility, and current status. In addition, this article introduces the domestic researches and self-development status on borehole elemental concentration tools.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.87-92
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• 2007

A thermal neutron beam facility utilizing a typical tangential beam port for Neutron Capture Therapy was installed at the HANARO, 30 MW multi-purpose research reactor. Mixed beams with different physical characteristics and relative biological effectiveness would be emitted from the BNCT irradiation facility, so a quantitative analysis of each component of the mixed beams should be performed to determine the accurate delivered dose. Thus, various techniques were applied including the use of activation foils, TLDs and ionization chambers. All the dose measurements were perform ed with the water phantom filled with distilled water. The results of the measurement were compared with MCNP4B calculation. The thermal neutron fluxes were $1.02E9n/cm^2{\cdot}s\;and\;6.07E8n/cm^2{\cdot}s$ at 10 and 20 mm depth respectively, and the fast neutron dose rate was insignificant as 0.11 Gy/hr at 10 mm depth in water The gamma-ray dose rate was 5.10 Gy/hr at 20 mm depth in water Good agreement within 5%, has been obtained between the measured dose and the calculated dose using MCNP for neutron and gamma component and discrepancy with 14% for fast neutron flux Considering the difficulty of neutron detection, the current study support the reliability of these results and confirmed the suitability of the thermal neutron beam as a dosimetric data for BNCT clinical trials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.340-344
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• 1972

Isomeric ratios were measured for the capture of thermal neutron by $^{79}$ Br, $^{80}$ Se, $^{103}$ Rh, $^{115}$ In and $^{133}$ Cs as well as those of epi-cadmium neutron by $^{79}$ Br, $^{80}$ Se and $^{l33}$Cs. The measurements were performed by analysing decay curves obtained by ${\gamma}$-ray spectrometry after irradiation. The counting efficiency curve was determined by using the calibrated standard sources with overall uncertainties of about 1%. Isomeric ratios, given in $\sigma$ high spin/($\sigma$ high spin + $\sigma$ low spin), of $^{80, 80m}$Br, $^{81,81m}$Se, $^{014, 104m}$Rh, $^{116,116m}$In and $^{134, 134m}$Cs produced by thermal neutron activation were found to be 0.21$\pm$0.01, 0.14$\pm$0.02, 0.12$\pm$0.02, 0.69$\pm$0.07 and 0.058$\pm$0.004, respectively, Those values of $^{80, 80m}$Br, $^{81,81m}$Se, and $^{134, 134m}$Cs Produced by epi-cadmium neutron were found to be 0.19$\pm$0.02, 0.29$\pm$0.02 and 0.074$\pm$0.011, respectively. The experimental values obtained were compared with the theoretical values deduced from the statistical model. There were the general agreements between the theory and the experiment.t.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.286-293
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• 1991

$^{123}I$, which is applied for the thyroid and other in vivo kinetic study, has a special role in life sciences. The 159 KeV $\gamma-ray$ from $^{123}I$ is almost ideally appropriate for the current imaging instrumentation. Its decay mode (electron capture) and short half-life (13.3 hr) reduced the burden of radiation dose to the patients, and its chemical property makes it easy to synthesize the labelling compounds. In this experiment, the production of $^{123}I$ via the nuclear reaction $^{124}Te(p,2n)^{123}I$ with 28 MeV protons was sutdied. $TeO_2$ is used as a target material, because it has good physical properties. The target was prepared with $TeO_2$ powder and was molten into a ellipsoidal cavity (a=14 mm, b=10 mm, $270.8mg/cm^2$ thick) of pure platinum. The irradiation was carried out in the external proton beam with incident energies range from 28 MeV to 22 MeV, and current was $30{\mu}A$. The loss of $TeO_2$ target was significantly reduced by using $4\pi-cooling$ system in irradiation. The dry distillation method was adopted for the separation of $^{123}I$ from irradiated target, and when it was kept 5 minutes at $780^{\circ}C$, its result was quantitative. The loss of the target material $(TeO_2)$ was below 0.2% for each production run and $^{123}I$ from the dry distillation apparatus was captured with 0.01 N NaOH in $Na^{123}I$ form, then the pH of the solution was adjusted to $7.5\sim9.0$ with HC1/NaOH. The $Na^{123}I$ solution was passed through $0.2{\mu}m$ membrane filter, and sterilized under high pressure and temperature for 30 minutes. The production of $^{123}I$ is acceptable for clinical application based on the quality of USP XXI.