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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 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.
R. T. Jacobs, J. A. Merrill
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 8 | Number 6 | December 1960 | Pages 480-496
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE60-A25834
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The comparative correlations of this report thoroughly demonstrate that significantly more precise equations for calculating burnout heat flux can be obtained by following the proposed “system-describing” concept, that if the independent, system-describing variables of a system are known, the burnout heat flux can be predicted. With this concept, the independent variable of inlet temperature has been used rather than the dependent variable of outlet subcooling or enthalpy. The same statistical (regression analysis) method of correlation was used for burnout data from several sources with both inlet temperature and outlet enthalpy so that the consistently better predictions using inlet temperature would not be attributed to using a different method of correlation. Due to the fact that Reactor technology and design no longer allow the engineer safety factor added upon safety factor, a decided advantage of the regression analysis correlation is that it is possible to calculate the statistical uncertainty of the predicted burnout heat flux.