A study of the use of palm fiber and palm shell as a thermal neutron radiation shielding material

Preliminary studies have been conducted to determine the benefits of using palm fiber and shells as thermal neutron radiation shielding materials. The method in this research using Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). However, based on the results of SEM-EDX data analysis, it was found that palm fiber and shells containing carbon were 70.92% and 73.25%, respectively. Furthermore, the carbon element is expected to absorb thermal neutron radiation and its ability was analyzed by using the material activation method due to neutron exposure. For the purpose of this study, the BATAN PSTBM Neutron Radiography facility was used for the activation. Thermal neutron flux on gold pieces that passed the natural neutron radiation shield made from palm fiber and palm shells was analyzed before and after passing through the shield in the NAA PSTBM BATAN laboratory. This analysis showed that the attenuation coefficient of palm fiber is 0.9538 cm−1 and palm shells are 1.0837 cm−1. Therefore, it can be concluded that both materials can be used as thermal neutron radiation shielding materials. Keywords: Palm shells, Palm fiber, Radiation shield