Health Physics
Using experience, specialized services, and sophisticated computer-aided health physics tools to protect workers, the public, and the environment from harmful levels of radiation.
Our Global Team
Canada
Don Jarron
Nuclear Account Manager, CanadaOur Global Team
United States
Jenna Gatto
Nuclear Senior Business Development Director, United StatesOur Global Team
International
Shahrokh Zangeneh
Senior Vice President Sales, InternationalOverview
Health physics, and its closely associated activity of radiation protection, is the science of enabling people to benefit from the use of radioactive materials while protecting them and the environment from hazardous levels of radiation. It considers all aspects of exposure including exposure to external radiation and the potential for ingestion or inhalation. Health physicists are responsible for the design of shielding and containment, planning work, and estimating dose budgets. They then monitor levels of exposure and uptake using radiation detectors and the bioassay of collected samples.
People potentially exposed to radioactive environments are required to follow the principles of ALARA or ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Achievable or As Low As Reasonably Practicable) and health physicists are responsible for ensuring these principles are applied.
Our full-scope health physics and radiation protection services include shielding estimates, shielding design, dose budget calculations, monitoring, and bioassay. We also use our experience to advise on compliance with industry best practice or regulator expectations.
Why Us?
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Highly Qualified Teams
Certified health physicists and radiation and health physics professionals with extensive in-field experience lead our work in nuclear power, medical isotopes, containment, transportation, fuel fabrication, and waste management.
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Industry Best Practice
Our subject matter experts remain up-to-date through their ongoing work on projects and through serving on a range of international and Canadian committees ensuring that our advice and proposed practices are always compliant.
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Cost-Effective, High-Quality Solutions
Experience enables us to quickly develop shielding designs, efficiently apply the right models, and develop approaches to projects that minimize dose.
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Wide Range of Applications
We have worked on a wide variety of projects including station operations, outages, waste management, transportation, and isotope production.
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Part of a Bigger Picture
By integrating our health physics services with many other aspects of our business including licensing, regulatory affairs, safety assessment, waste management, and decommissioning we offer a one-stop shop for radiation protection.
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Direct and Indirect
The services we offer include the assessment of dose resulting from both direct and indirect (e.g., skyshine) exposures and include the assessment of shielding for gamma, neutron, beta, and other radiation fields
Technical Abilities
Health Physics
In addition to being experienced users of radiation shielding codes, our team includes skilled users of the RESidual RADioactive (RESRAD) family of codes published by Argonne National Laboratory to calculate risk of exposure through different environmental pathways.
Since 2012, we have created a licensed internal dosimetry program for transuranics and have become the primary supplier of urine and fecal bioassay analysis services for Bruce Power. We have also developed an internal dose assessment program that meets CNSC requirements and inputs data directly to the National Dose Registry operated by Health Canada. Internal dose assessment is done by our trained personnel utilizing the Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis (IMBA) Professional Plus software, in alignment with what is recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).
We also use other software packages and a variety of analytical methods to analyze problems involving skyshine, streaming through port and ducts, scattering albedo from surfaces, radiation from extended sources such as ground contamination and airborne plumes of radioactive material, and generation of secondary radiation by the interaction of neutron and beta radiation in shielding materials.
In addition to using state-of-the art methods and computer codes to deliver services, personalized solutions are provided by our experienced team. Our industry-recognized experts have been involved in developing the latest standards pertaining to safety assessment and environmental management (i.e., the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) N288 and N292 standards).
Our niche areas of expertise include the following:
- Shielding calculations (point-kernel approach) and assess shielding designs of nuclear facilities
- Shielding analysis of potential design changes using the MCNP code to capture the irregular geometries involved
- Calculating external dose to workers and the general public using custom-made spreadsheets
- Assessing intakes from bioassay data and calculating internal dose using IMBA Professional Plus software
- ALARA dose assessments
- Safety Analysis Report (SAR) for Class I and II Nuclear facilities
- Calculating radiation fields around nuclear facilities and contaminated sites
- Estimate dose to workers and members of the public during normal and accidental/upset scenarios
- Hazard assessment of nuclear facilities
- Determining internal, external, and environmental radiation hazards
- Pathway analysis for unconditional release of waste
Radiation Shielding Services
Our team is well versed in using computer-assisted software to perform radiation shielding and dose modeling in support of designing shields and source strength estimation from radiation measurements. These tools aim help to minimize exposure to individuals, in line with the As low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principles.
The radiation shielding analysis software we use includes:
- MicroShield® – A point-kernel shielding analysis package used throughout the nuclear industry to analyze shielding for gamma radiation in standard geometries
- QAD-CGGP – A point kernel gamma radiation shielding analysis package that allows modeling of complex geometries using combinatorial geometry algorithms
- Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport (MCNP) – An extremely versatile Monte Carlo software package that can be used to analyze shielding for both gamma and neutron radiations in complex geometries
- ORIGEN – A computer code used to solve the equations of radioactive nuclide transmutation and calculate radiation source terms for use in shielding and dose rate calculations
- MERCURAD – 3D simulation software for Dose Rate Calculation. The code can be used to develop various practical solutions including optimization of shielding design and work procedures
Radiation Protection
Our expertise in radiation protection (RP) allows our team to offer:
- RP program documents to support design of nuclear facilities
- Design engineers and reviewing of design packages
- RP services e.g., to analyze the “fitness for purpose” of storing contaminated wastes and to demonstrate the safety of the waste storage operations
- RP training materials for different categories of staff at nuclear facilities using the Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) process
- Radiation surveys and dose recording
Our Proven Experience
Quality Assurance & Technical Standards
- CSA N288
- Standards and Guidelines on Environmental Management of Nuclear Facilities
- CSA N292
- Standards on Radioactive Waste Management
- CSA N294
- Decommissioning of facilities containing nuclear substances
Key Clients
Projects
Let's Work Together
Whether it’s about our world-renowned team, our laboratories, or our lifecycle management solutions, we’re happy to answer any questions you might have.