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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.
M. H. Kalos
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 16 | Number 1 | May 1963 | Pages 111-117
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A26481
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In estimating flux at a point in a Monte Carlo calculation one estimator uses the uncollided flux at a detector from each sampled collision point. This method is shown to have infinite variance. The average value converges to the expected value but the error decreases asymptotically as the inverse cube root of the number of histories. By using the once collided flux and by proper choice of the intermediate collision point the variance may be made finite. Results of numerical experiments show the finite variance methods to be preferable.