With the development of nuclear industry, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) generated from nuclear power plants arouses people’s attention as a result of its high radioactivity, and how to guarantee the reliable operation of nuclear facilities and the staff’s safety occupies a crucial position. To avoid the lethal irradiation, a lot of functional neutron shielding composites have been developed to transform fast neutrons into thermal neutrons which can be absorbed with high macroscopic cross-sectional elements. Irradiation characteristics of nuclear industry have promoted the advancement of neutron shielding materials. Here, we review the latest neutron shielding materials for the storage of spent nuclear fuel containing additives such as boron carbide (B₄C), boron nitride (BN), boric acid (H₃BO₃), and colemanite. Different types of neutron shielding materials, including metal matrix alloys, polymer composites, high density concrete, heavy metals, paraffin, and other neutron shielding composites with high macroscopic cross-sectional elements, arediscussed. The elemental composition, density, and thermal and mechanical properties of neutron shielding materials are also summarized and compared.

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乏核燃料贮存中子屏蔽材料的研究进展

随着核工业的发展，核电站产生的废核燃料由于其高放射性而引起人们的关注，如何保证核设施的可靠运行和工作人员的安全至关重要。为了避免致命的辐射，已经开发了许多功能性中子屏蔽复合材料，可将快速中子转变为热中子，这些中子可被高宏观截面元素吸收。核工业的辐照特性促进了中子屏蔽材料的发展。在这里，我们回顾了用于存储废旧核燃料的最新中子屏蔽材料，这些废核燃料包含诸如碳化硼（B ₄ C），氮化硼（BN），硼酸（H ₃）之类的添加剂。BO ₃）和硬锰矿。讨论了不同类型的中子屏蔽材料，包括金属基体合金，聚合物复合材料，高密度混凝土，重金属，石蜡和其他具有高宏观横截面元素的中子屏蔽复合材料。还对中子屏蔽材料的元素组成，密度以及热和机械性能进行了总结和比较。