The Monte Carlo coupling technique with the coordinate transformation is used to evalulate the shielding ability of a modular shielding house that accommodates four spent-fuel transportable storage casks for two units. The effective dose rate distributions can be obtained as far as 300 m from the center of the shielding house. The coupling technique is created with the Surface Source Write (SSW) card and the Surface Source Read/Coordinate Transformation (SSR/CRT) card in the MCNP 4C continuous energy Monte Carlo code as the "SSW-SSR/CRT calculation system."

In the present Monte Carlo coupling calculation, the total effective dose rates 100, 200, and 300 m from the center of the shielding house are estimated to be 1.69, 0.285, and 0.0826 (Sv/yr per four casks), respectively. Accordingly, if the distance between the center of the shielding house and the site boundary of the storage facility is kept at >300 m, approximately 2400 casks are able to be accommodated in the modular shielding houses, under the Japanese severe criterion of 50 Sv/yr at the site boundary. The shielding house alone satisfies not only the technical conditions but also the economic requirements.

It became evident that secondary gamma rays account for >60% of the effective total dose rate at all the calculated points around the shielding house, most of which are produced from the water in the steel-water-steel shielding system of the shielding house. The remainder of the dose rate comes mostly from neutrons; the fission product and 60Co activation gamma rays account for small percentages. Accordingly, reducing the secondary gamma rays is critical to improving not only the shielding ability but also the radiation safety of the shielding house.