To protect operators of equipment using neutron radiation, an alternative material is needed as a neutron shielding which is lightweight and has a high neutron absorption. One alternative material that can be used is wood dust. In this study pure wood sawdust and 30% borax-wood composites were investigated as alternatives to shielding neutrons. Mixing wood sawdust and borax was done using HEM (High Energy Milling) for 1 hour, then pressed at 2000 Psi using a manual press with variations in thickness of 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm. SEM characterization results show, the grain size of wood in pure wood and 30% boraxwood composites is still quite large around 50 μm, the EDS results show no significant difference in wood content and 30% borax-wood composites. XRD characterization results showed no new phases were formed in the 30% borax-wood composite. The results of observations with optical microscopy showed that 30% borax-wood composite which were compressed did not form pores but were not evenly distributed. From the compressive test data, there was a decrease in the compressive ability of 30% borax-wood composites compared to pure wood dust from 226.6 N to 110.4 N. The neutron absorption test results using the Neutron Radiography technique with the film technique showed the addition of 30% borax to sawdust increased the neutron absorption rate by an average of 19.05% in wood to 20.24% in 30% borax-wood composites and increased the attenuation coefficient of 0.36 cm· in pure wood to 0.53 cm 1 in 30% borax-wood composite.

Synthesis and characterization of photocatalist TiO2 doped with Ni for treatment of waste model from nuclear facility. Ni doped TiO2 as photocatalyst material has been made. Addition of dopant Ni was carried out by impregnation technique. The Ni content was varied between 3, 5, 7 and 10 wt.%. The TiO2-Ni samples obtained were then characterized by X-Ray Diffractometer and SEM-EDS. The catalyst test is carried out using UV-VIS. The anatase crystal structure appears at 2θ = 25.41°, 37.89°, 48.13°, 55.14° 62.78°. The NiO crystal structure was also found at X-Ray peak 2θ = 38.8°. It obvious that addition of Ni dopants decreased significantly the TiO2 crystal main size The anatase crystal structure formed on TiO2-Ni (3 wt.%) is 84.21%. The results of SEM-EDS analysis showed the best success rate of 91.6% wt 3 wt.% Ni addition. The photocatalist material TiO2-Ni was then applied to treat the standard non-radioactive liquid waste material from BATAN nuclear facility modeled by a mixture based on methylene blue exposed with UV light with variation of time. The degradation rate during processing of methylene blue waste with TiO2-Ni (3 wt.%) using UV light was measured 0.021/hour. The longer the UV irradiation time is the greater the degradation of methylene blue. The making of TiO2 photocatalyst by adding variations of Ni dopant has been successfully caried out, with a fairly good success rate. The highest success rate is addition of Ni by 3% with a success rate of 91.6%.