ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
S. B. Gunst, J. C. Connor, E. Fast
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 8 | Number 2 | August 1960 | Pages 128-132
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE60-A25788
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In reactor-lifetime calculations it is customary to take account of the transient behavior of two fission-product poisons, Xe135 and Sm149, and to assume the gross poisoning due to all other products is a function of the total time-integrated exposure irrespective of the detailed flux history. This description tacitly assumes that the gross poisoning of the other products is stable. The adequacy of the description is demonstrated experimentally for a natural UO2 sample irradiated in a reactor flux of 2 × 1014 n/cm2-sec to an exposure of 6300 Mwd/ton. The poisoning associated with the so-called “stable” fission products is found to change only (−7 ± 3) barns/fission per year.
