5. Other functional materials for the nuclear industry

5.1 Radiation protection

For radiation protection, and for the containment of nuclear material enclosures, various materials are used, selected primarily for their ability to absorb emitted radiation. This absorption efficiency depends on both the radiation and the absorbing materials. As the main protection is sought against neutrons or γ-photons, we will mainly detail these situations.

Radiation attenuation is continuous along the path of the particle under consideration. Thus, the transmitted radiation decreases in the same proportions, for the same thickness of absorber traversed, leading to a transmitted intensity I _t , proportional to the incident intensity I ₀ ...