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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.
O. F. Smidts, J. Devooght
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 129 | Number 3 | July 1998 | Pages 224-245
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE98-A1978
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A biased Monte Carlo methodology is presented for solving the transport of radionuclide chains through a porous medium in the context of the risk assessment of radioactive waste repositories. It is based on the construction of random walks from an integral equation. This leads to a biased Monte Carlo simulation because it uses the solution of an adjoint reference problem to improve the efficiency of the calculations. The transport of a radionuclide chain is modeled by introducing the notion of a radionuclide "state." The consequence is that only one integral equation has to be considered for the simulation in a continuous - discrete space (r,t;i), where r is the radionuclide position vector, t is time, and i is the radionuclide state. Transport in a random velocity field is also considered by using double randomization techniques.The methodology is illustrated by numerical results on test problems; the score of the simulations being the quantity of radionuclides transferred, during the mission time, to the upper surface of the geological domain. Validations of the simulations are first realized by comparison with analytical solutions, and the influence of biasing techniques is put in evidence. Finally, simulations conducted simultaneously with the generation of a large number of random velocity fields illustrate the feasibility of the method for the transport of radionuclides in a stochastic medium.