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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The RAIN scale: A good intention that falls short
Radiation protection specialists agree that clear communication of radiation risks remains a vexing challenge that cannot be solved solely by finding new ways to convey technical information.
Earlier this year, an article in Nuclear News described a new radiation risk communication tool, known as the Radiation Index, or, RAIN (“Let it RAIN: A new approach to radiation communication,” NN, Jan. 2025, p. 36). The authors of the article created the RAIN scale to improve radiation risk communication to the general public who are not well-versed in important aspects of radiation exposures, including radiation dose quantities, units, and values; associated health consequences; and the benefits derived from radiation exposures.
I. J. Thompson, Y. M. X. M. Dardenne, J. M. Kenneally, A. Robertson, L. E. Ahle, C. A. Hagmann, R. A. Henderson, D. Vogt, C.-Y. Wu, W. Younes
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 171 | Number 2 | June 2012 | Pages 85-135
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-101
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Because of the importance of accurate data for fission chain yields (FCYs) for many applications, we present a rigorous “clean sheet” evaluation of all available data to provide an accurate set of pertinent FCYs. Because some nuclear data (e.g., half-lives, branching ratios, etc.) have been refined since the original analyses, where possible we update the data and their associated uncertainties. This evaluation is particularly topical since there are differences in the nuclear data used by radiochemists at different laboratories internationally and since some experiments from the 1970s have been recently reexamined with details published for the first time.The focus of this work is the production of a small set of fission products (95Zr, 99Mo, 144Ce, 147Nd) from plutonium irradiated by fission spectrum neutrons. Because 147Nd is a common isotope used at several laboratories, its production rate is examined critically. We find that most of the interlaboratory discrepancies can be explained by a dependence of its yield on the energy of the neutron causing fission, so we consider in detail the statistical significance of this claim. The potential for neutron energy dependence of 147Nd production from plutonium was first recognized in 1977 by Maeck and recently raised again as a possibility by Chadwick. The data for 95Zr, by contrast, demonstrate no statistically significant energy-dependence trends, but the data at the higher energies demonstrate significant scatter.With the relatively small number of data points, and recognizing that measurement methods and technologies have likely significantly improved in the nearly 30 years since the last measurement, additional measurements to refine the assessment and improve the uncertainties may be warranted.