‎Assessment of shielding performance of nitrile butadiene rubber through simulation and experiments at MNSR beam line

New nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) materials are being considered to use for neutron shielding especially for the positions which needs a flexible neutron shield. Such light, low-cost, and suitable material could be used for sealing of the gaps or even for shielding of low radiation environments. In the present work, experimental investigation of NBR shielding performance of neutrons and gamma rays was proposed using the beam line of the Isfahan Miniature Neutron Source Reactor . MCNPX code was used to simulate the 30 kW research reactor beam line. Six NBR sheet with 2 cm thickness were used at the outlet of the beam line respectively to measure its neutron shielding as well as gamma shielding power on thickness. The experiment situations were modeled using the computational code. The obtained results showed the flexible and cheap material could be used as a good neutron shield while it acts as a very weak shield for gamma rays too. Also there is good conformity between simulation and experimental data with maximum 37% relative discrepancy.