The effectiveness of concrete radiation shielding is significantly influenced by the macroscopic cross-section values of its constituent materials. This parameter plays a crucial role in determining a material's ability to absorb neutrons, where higher macroscopic cross-section values indicate greater effectiveness as neutron radiation shielding. This study aims to analyze the elemental and phase composition and calculate the macroscopic cross-section values of coconut shells and zircon sand. The analysis used X-ray diffraction (XRD) with the Rietveld refinement method. Rietica software was used for quantitative analysis, whereas HighScore Plus was employed for qualitative analysis. The results indicate that the coconut shell consists of two phases and six elements, with a Goodness of Fit (GoF) index of 3.151%. Meanwhile, zircon sand comprises three phases and six elements, with a GoF index of 2.727%. The calculated macroscopic cross-section values show that the coconut shell has a value of 0.0106 cm -1 , whereas zircon sand has a higher value of 0.5500 cm -1 . Based on these findings, zircon sand is recommended as a neutron radiation shielding material due to its higher macroscopic cross-section value, indicating better neutron absorption capability.
Sukarya et al. (Fri,) studied this question.