Application of a semi-empirical model for the evaluation of transmission properties of barite mortar

• Barite mortar attenuation curves using X-ray spectra were calculated.
• Optimized thickness of protective barrier was estimated.
• An optimized model considers the energy spectra for protective barrier calculation.

The aim of this study was to estimate barite mortar attenuation curves using X-ray spectra weighted by a workload distribution. A semi-empirical model was used for the evaluation of transmission properties of this material. Since ambient dose equivalent, H⁎(10), is the radiation quantity adopted by IAEA for dose assessment, the variation of the H⁎(10) as a function of barite mortar thickness was calculated using primary experimental spectra. A CdTe detector was used for the measurement of these spectra. The resulting spectra were adopted for estimating the optimized thickness of protective barrier needed for shielding an area in an X-ray imaging facility.