Thermal sensors, description

A short description of possible nuclear applications of boron-based materials had been done by Potapov (1961) in an old overview that included the nuclear power industry (e.g., control rods of nuclear reactors) solid-state electronics (e.g., counters of neutrons and neutron energy sensors) radiation chemistry (e.g., acceleration of technological processes) etc. For these purposes, "B nuclei are useless, but °B nuclei are useful due to a large cross section of interaction with thermal neutrons, °B converts them into heavy ionizing particles. Besides, °B isotope is applicable for neutron radiation protection (Stantso 1983) and also in medicine, e.g., in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for treating cancer tumors (Desson 2007). 

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