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Narrow and Broad Beam Attenuation of Diagnostic X Ray Beam Across Lead Sample Found in Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria

Umeh CD, Agwu KK and Okoye CI

Nigeria has over ten million tons of lead predominantly situated in the Abakaliki field in the lower benue trough. The authors decided to embark on a study to document its shielding strength towards X ray beam in the diagnostic energy range. Measurements of narrow and broad beam attenuations were made across different cut out thicknesses. Our results show that the linear attenuation coefficient is lower when compared to the value in the NIST table; 42% for N100KeV and 18% for N120KeV. These authors believe might be due to impurities because of the increased weight trying to undermine its shielding capacity or from the X ray factors. However, it could still give adequate shielding performance with a minimum thickness of 4mm following broad beam attenuation.