Application of Photon Transport and Response Characterization Kit (P-TReCK) Software to Shielding Properties of Mine Tailings

In this study, we used a Windows-based Monte Carlo software called P-TReCK (Photon Transport and Response Characterization Kit) to observe the photon transport of gamma rays through a theoretical sample of mine tailings. Mine tailings are fine particles containing gangue minerals of an ore, typically consisting of silica, alumina, iron oxides, other oxides (calcium, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus), and trace elements such as Mn, Zn, Pb, As, Cu, Ni, P, Co, Mo, Y, and Rb. Some tailings also contained concentrated natural radioactivity. Two types of tailings were examined: one from a rare-earth element mine with major constituents including quartz, magnetite/hematite, goethite/limonite, muscovite, annite, and illite; and another from a lithium mine composed of albite, quartz, microcline, muscovite, spodumene, and plagioclase (listed from highest to lowest percent mass). Using the empirical formulas of individual components and their mass percent occurrences as input parameters, the properties of a radiation shielding material were constructed. P-TReCK simulates material interactions with gamma-rays showing the detector spectra through a graphical user interface with spectral analysis, dosage, and particle tracing outputs. After gamma rays were directed at the sample surface, the trajectories of unscattered photons, Compton scattering, annihilation, and photoelectric effects on mammalian tissue—whose theoretical characteristics were sourced from literature—were traced using P-TReCK. The radial and axial dose distributions were calculated, along with the total energy deposited in both the shielding layer and the tissue layer. Other parameters were investigated, including shielding thickness, source-to-sample distance, radiation power, and tailings properties. The effects on tissue, in terms of maximum dosage and dose map comparisons, were evaluated against absorbed and effective dosage limits.