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.
Richard B. Jones and P. F. Zweifel
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 59 | Number 4 | April 1976 | Pages 429-436
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE76-A26843
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Goertzel reactor construct and the Goertzel-Wilkins theorem proved for this class of reactors are applied to a moderator fuel system at pressurized water reactor temperature and pressure conditions. The viability of the minimum critical mass as a global parameter to assess the integrity of energy group structures is investigated. The calculations are performed in diffusion and transport theory and up to eight energy groups are considered. Some initial guidelines based on the minimum critical mass for attaining nearly equivalent accuracy by using a fewer number of “properly” structured energy groups are discussed. Numerical results are still inconclusive but again suggest that transport theoretical calculations are pointless unless spectral codes that compute group constants include angular dependence.