Development of composite materials for non-leaded glove for use in radiological hand protection

Lead is a hazardous material and US congress has mandated the rapid reduction of all hazardous waste generation as a matter of national policy. With the large amount of plutonium handling in numerous projects including the development of MOX fuel, power source etc., hand glove protection for the emitted alpha-beta- and low energy photons is an important issue. Leaded gloves are the prime shields used for radiological hand protection. US Department of Energy laboratories require a substitute material for the lead oxide in the gloves, as a way to reduced mixed waste. To solve this problem, a new blend of non-hazardous materials that have the same radiological properties, approximately the same cost of production, and lastly not potentially fall under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulation, to replace the lead oxide currently used in the gloves had been investigated. The investigations have produced alternative materials using calculations (deterministic and Monte Carlo, MCNP) and experiments. The selection of the constituent compounds for the new composite materials, were based on the k-absorption edge energy of the main constituent element(s) in the compound. The formulations of these composites were fashioned on the principle of blending neoprene rubber formulation with several constituent compounds. Calculations based on the Lambert-Beer attenuation law together with the mass attenuation coefficient values from the XCOM cross section database program were used to determine the transmission fractions of these proposed composite materials. Selected composite materials that compared favorably with the leaded-neoprene were fabricated. These fabricated composite materials were tested with attenuation experiments and the results were in excellent agreement with the calculations using the Lambert-Beer law. For the purpose of benchmarking the result of the calculations, Monte Carlo calculations were also made. The success of this research would mean that this new composite material could also replace the lead aprons currently in use, as shields against radiation like x-ray in most hospitals. Based on computational and experimental results, the recommended compositions of the composite materials for the glove are: (i) Erbium III Oxide (Er₂O₃)—40% and 40 Tungsten Boride (WB) blend with 20% Neoprene formulation, or with the reduced Er₂O₃, (ii) Erbium III Oxide (Er₂O ₃)—5% and 75% Tungsten Boride (WB) blend with 20% Neoprene formulation. (iii) Tungsten III Oxide (WO₃)—80% blended with 20% Neoprene formulation. Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) results show that, several heavy metals used in these new materials that would leach out were below the US EPA limit or are not on the list of regulated heavy metals. However, on the original gloves Lead leached out at a concentration of 5.2 mL/L, slightly above the regulatory limit.