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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 Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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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.
Shee-Ming Chen, Leon J. Lidofsky
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 29 | Number 2 | August 1967 | Pages 198-209
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE67-A18528
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
From pulsed-neutron measurements, the most probable slowing down times of 14.1-MeV neutrons to 1.1 and 0.8 eV in water are found to be 1.55 ± 0.15 and 1.85 ± 0.15 µsec, using cadmium-shielded 6LiI scintillators at distances 10 to 50 cm from the source. No spatial dependence can be found. Subsequent Monte Carlo study of 120 000 neutron cases not only confirms the experimental results, but also yields a more detailed space-energy-time neutron distribution as well as average slowing down times to various epithermal energies.
