An online software to simulate the shielding properties of materials for neutrons and photons: NGCal

NGCal, a free online computation software (http://ngcal.com), has been developed for narrow beam transmission properties of photons (for energies of X rays and gamma rays between 0.002 MeV and 20 MeV), thermal (25.4 meV) and fast neutrons (4 MeV), in this regard it theoretically calculates the mass and linear attenuation coefficient/factor, mean free path, half- and tenth-value layers of materials formed by elements, compounds and composites. Its calculation assumptions, user guide as well as a comparative example of its results to those of other online computation platforms (XCOM, NCNR, WinXCOM, MCNPX, and Phy-X/PSD) are presented in this study. The developed software allows for more data input consisting of elements/oxides/compound and their fractions, and presents a number of shielding results required by researchers and scientists working on radiation shielding properties of multi-component materials. •NGCal is a free online computation software for evaluating the shielding effectiveness of materials.•Incoherent scattering and absorption are considered in calculations for thermal and fast neutrons.•Compton scattering, photoelectric absorption and pair production are considered for photons.•Composition of materials can be defined as by weight fraction and by empirical/molecular formulas.•The simulation results of NGCal were found to be very similar to those of existing counterparts.