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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.
G. Flamenbaum, A. Zaetta, M. Martini, M. Michenot, T. Newton, H. Sztark
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 106 | Number 1 | September 1990 | Pages 64-68
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE90-A23758
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several experiments on Superphénix are used to compare calculations and measurements for various control rod configurations that show salient spatial effects: 1. “local criticality” configurations (i.e., in a subcritical reactor with all rods inserted, adjacent control rods are successively withdrawn up to criticality) 2. criticality achieved with one control rod curtain up and the other remaining fully inserted 3. “handling error” configurations (i.e., all rods inserted except one, which is supposed to be replaced by a fuel subassembly). These experiments and their analysis are described. The calculation-to-experiment comparison shows a good agreement.
