NUCLEAR SHIELDING

Parsons history of providing nuclear engineering services to the U.S. government includes extensive experience in shielding design. Reducing radiation exposure is a major objective of shielding design. Projects may require either neutron or gamma shielding, or both. Our designs include review of facility criteria, source determination, equipment layout considerations, maintenance assessment, and dose rate evaluation. Economic plant design factors include shielding materials, distance, working time, geometry, and facility layout.

Analytical assessments include source determination, multigroup source compilation, shielding curve generation, activation determination, dose rate evaluations, and scattering or streaming calculations. Our radiation shielding transport calculations use discrete ordinates and Monte Carlo techniques.

One of our most challenging projects was the design and construction of a shelter over the Chernobyl reactor. We provided engineering, project management, and technical consultation during the development of plans and studies to convert the damaged reactor into a safe and environmentally sound site. Our approach reduced the planned exposure by a factor of 10 and costs by a factor of three.

Parsons also provides shielding analysis and designs for major DOE nuclear facilities. They include the Salt Waste Processing Facility and Glass Waste Storage Building 2 at the Savannah River Site, and the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant.

Our specialized experience encompasses:

• Radioactive material, processing, handling, and facility design
• Waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility design
• Facility-managed modifications and as-built reviews
• Commercial facility design
• Facility walk downs and baseline documentation services