Alternatives to Pb shielding

[nukedog]

Has anyone any ideas on alternatives to Pb shielding.

I have seen Tungsten used, and I have heard about Uranium. Any other ideas?

[Industry_event]

What about water shields.

[RRhoads]

we use them (H2O shields) at the plant i work at.
The vessel that holds the water is clear so ops or who-ever can still read gages & what-not but still provide the necessary reduction in dose...
Back in '91, IP2 used H2O shields somewhere in the can..i forget where but these were not the clear ones(the vessel) they were solid plastic...they do work.

[Atomic_Punk]

Management types work well, especially the fat ones.

[SloGlo]

Has anyone any ideas on alternatives to Pb shielding.

I have seen Tungsten used, and I have heard about Uranium. Any other ideas?

what are you shielding?  only hard gammas?  betas too?  sum junk works bettern others, but it's energy dependent to effectiveness.  fer those who got it all, there's multi-ply mixed shielding available on the market.  but those people are going to ask you what you want to shield.

[Mike McFarlin]

Portable shielding in the form of a Junior tech.

[vikingfan]

 Sounds like the typical ALARA princeable " Always let another run ahead".

[nuke_girl]

Portable shielding in the form of a Junior tech.

<< runs far ..runs fast .. ..yikessssssss

[ChiefRocscooter]

Why not just use TLD's , I have heard lot of guy bitch about how much they seem to suck up!  If we just sourround a source with them then nothing would get out , right??

[PWHoppe]

  I think nukedog was asking a serious question but I'm thinking now that we have digressed    Maybe back to the topic 

[vikingfan]

 ok with getting back on topic as per requested. I have seen water shields used at a few plants to cover the core with very good dose reduction results.

[JeffHawk]

I've borated poly blocks used. And I've never minded using distance.

[terry]

I have started using Tungsten, both rolls and blankets in certian situations. When weight is a limiting factor Tungsten blankets may be the trick. For high energy point sources the rolls of Tungsten can't be beat i.e. had a 700 mr/hr spot on a RTD nozzle comming off a Hot Leg, (weight was an issue Engs. would not approve a single 20 lb lead blanket)  was able to reduce it to 70 mr/hr. OK now for the draw backs a Tungsten 4 foot blanket costs $2000 to $2500 each the rolls are cheaper but still not cheap. The other good points are when it is disposed of it is not a mixed waste  and the rolls are easy to decon  any body eles ever use Tungsten?     

[SloGlo]

sum probes are tungsten shielded to attenuate gamma background and still be user friendly for those with longevity bilt into there survey schemes.  but, did eye miss sumthing?  like the source material to be shielded?  there's alot of different shieldings available for different radiations.  these range from the simple single material to multi-ply composites.  source dependent, don't you know, as different materials have different effects on different radiations.  iffen cost ain't that much of a factor, comparatively speaking, you can knock the energy right out of a source with a relative thin layer of shielding if you ply it correctly.  or you can load up on the gross material iffen ya gots bean counters up yer ask.

[nukedog]

I just talked to buddy of mine that seen my posts. He said they are using Denim. He said it is a great Beta attenuator. Thanks for the tip Steve