The role and performance of various layers (steel, cast iron (CI), concrete, lead, borated polyethylene (BPE), lithium filled polyethylene (LiPE)) and their combinations as shielding against neutrons and photons in the ATLAS experiment forward region (JF shielding) have been studied by means of Monte-Carlo simulations. These simulations permitted one to determine the locations of appearance and disappearance of neutrons and photons and their number at these locations. In particular, the determination of the number of newly born neutrons and photons, the number of stopped neutrons and photons, as well as the number of neutrons and photons crossing the borders of shielding layers allowed the assessment of the JF shielding efficiency. It provided a basis for comparing the merits of different configurations of shielding layers. The simulation code is based on GEANT, FLUKA, MICAP and GAMLIB. The results of the study give strong support to a segmented shielding made of five layers (steel, CI, BPE, steel, LiPE).