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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.
Gary M. Sandquist
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 37 | Number 3 | September 1969 | Pages 443-450
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE69-A19118
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for determining stabilizing control functions for any first-order controllable system is presented. Examples of stabilizing feedback control are examined and corroborated for stability using the second method of Liapunov. Consideration of a general class of arbitrary degree stabilizing feedback-control functions reveals that linear feedback control produces the greatest damping. Examination of signal error and time delay in the control function shows that highly damping control can result in system oscillation. Finally the method is extended to systems of higher order and a stabilizing control function is found for the reactor-kinetic equations even with unmonitored delayed neutrons if the linear feedback-control gain is > β/l.
