At radioactive waste disposal facilities all around the world, radiation shielding is required to reduce the background γ-radiation as much as possible in order to achieve protection against high radiation. In the current study, an inexpensive material, Portland cement, has been utilized as shielding material against γ-radiation from radioactive materials including radioactive wastes. Portland cement was used as principal compound and mixed with various ratios of bitumen (0, 10, 20, 30%). Three parameters (compressive strength, permeability and attenuation coefficient) were monitored to estimate the mechanical, physical stability and isolation performance of cement-bitumen as novel γ-radiation shielding material. These parameters were studied under several variable conditions, and results were supported by spectroscopic and scanning investigations. The results confirmed that the cement-bitumen composite (with 10% bitumen) has a high attenuation coefficient comated to the measured for the pure cement paste. Although the compressive strength has decreased gradually with increasing the amount of bitumen relative to cement, the porosity and water absorption capacity have increased gradually at higher bitumen ratio, and consequently the shielding performance outperformed the control sample. As major outcome, this novel composite material could be safely applied in encapsulating or disposing hazardous nuclear waste generated by non-military applications (nuclear power plants) for efficient shielding of the environment from precarious γ-radiation.

在世界各地的放射性废物处理设施中，需要进行辐射屏蔽以尽可能减少背景γ辐射，以实现高辐射防护。在当前的研究中，廉价的波特兰水泥材料已被用作屏蔽材料，以抵抗包括放射性废物在内的放射性材料的γ辐射。波特兰水泥用作主要化合物，并以各种比例的沥青（0％，10％，20％，30％）混合。监测了三个参数（抗压强度，渗透率和衰减系数），以评估水泥沥青作为新型γ辐射屏蔽材料的机械，物理稳定性和隔离性能。这些参数是在几种可变条件下进行研究的，结果得到了光谱学和扫描学研究的支持。结果证实，水泥沥青复合材料（沥青含量为10％）具有较高的衰减系数，这与纯水泥浆的实测值相符。尽管相对于水泥而言，随着沥青用量的增加，抗压强度逐渐降低，但随着沥青用量的增加，孔隙率和吸水率逐渐提高，因此其屏蔽性能优于对照样品。作为主要成果，这种新型复合材料可以安全地用于封装或处置非军事用途（核电厂）产生的危险核废料，从而有效地保护环境免受不稳定的γ辐射的影响。