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.
P. Mohanakrishnan, H. C. Huria
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 68 | Number 2 | November 1978 | Pages 220-226
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE78-A27294
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A theoretical analysis of the reactivities of experimentally measured uniform light-water-moderated and -reflected PuO2 in UO2 lattices and Pu(NO3)4 solutions is presented here. The mixed-oxide single-rod lattices are homogenized by the use of multigroup integral transport theory, and diffusion theory is used for the cylindrical core calculations. The cross sections are derived from the WIMS library. The homogeneous spherical Pu(NO3)4 solutions are analyzed by discrete-ordinates transport theory. Due to the small size of these assemblies, it is necessary that one-dimensional core calculations also be performed with a cross-section energy-group structure that can accurately represent neutron slowing down and thermalization at the core-reflector interface. Due to the uncertainty present in the Battelle Northwest Laboratories analyses of the mixed-oxide lattices, the agreement of our predictions for these lattices with measurement is considered to be more satisfactory. Our reactivity predictions agree generally within +0.6% of measurements for the mixed-oxide lattices and within 1% for the solution systems.