Window for protecting against radiation

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of the invention to create a window providing protection against high-energy and/or neutron radiation, the construction of which is simple and requires less time than that necessary for the technique described above.
According to the invention, this object and other objects are achieved by a window comprising at least one optical unit which provides protection against high-energy and/or neutron radiation, and a frame surrounding the optical unit, the space between the optical unit and the frame being filled with a castable and hardenable material.
Such a window has many advantages at the time of its construction.
In particular, the castable material, while it is being cast, fills the space or the clearance provided between the optical unit and the frame without requiring operations for compacting said material.
Another advantage associated with such a material is the ability to produce a complete optical unit before inserting it into the window frame and then to cast the castable and hardenable material.
Unlike the technique mentioned earlier, it is not intended to have to complete the construction of the optical unit in the window frame.
Advantageously, the castable material is loaded with heavy and/or anti-neutron particles.
Such a material may be a resin, but the radiation resistance of organic material is not satisfactory for some applications.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the castable and hardenable material is a concrete, advantageously chosen so as to be identical to that making up the walls of the chamber within which the window is intended to be installed, so as to produce a level of radiation protection which is very homogeneous compared with the rest of the walls of the chamber.
The concrete chosen is advantageously loaded with iron ores, in order to give it a relative density of about 4.
5, and/or includes boron or hydrogenated products which absorb neutrons and/or attenuate .
gamma.
-rays.
Also preferably, the concrete used includes a stoichiometric amount of water