Borosilicate Glass Containing Bismuth and Zinc Oxides as a Hot Cell Material for Gamma-Ray Shielding

Gamma-ray attenuation coefficients (the half value layer parameters, gamma – ray shielding properties) for the x ZnO - (5−x) Bi2O3 -10 B2O3 -40 SiO2 (x = 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20) at 662, 1173 and 1332 keV photon energies have been determined experimentally, using a narrow beam transmission method, as well as theoretically using the ‘mixture rule’ and the ‘XCOM’ computer software. The molar volume and FTIR investigations have been used to study the structural properties of the glass system. Optical, UV-visible, absorption measurements were performed also to investigate the transmittance aimed to investigate the performance of the glass system for using as hot cells for shielding windows in nuclear technology.