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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.
N. D. Dudey, R. J. Popek, R. C. Greenwood, R. G. Helmer, J W Rogers, L. S. Kellogg, W. H. Zimmer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 25 | Number 2 | February 1975 | Pages 294-304
Technical Paper | Material Dosimetry | doi.org/10.13182/NT75-A24370
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of the reaction rates for gamma-active fission product and yields from fission of 235U, 238U, 239Pu, and 237Np irradiated in the Coupled Fast Reactivity Measurements Facility and engineering mockup critical assembly neutron fields are reported. The fission products 95Zr, 103Ru, and 140Ba were measured by gamma-ray spectroscopy at four independently calibrated laboratories. It is concluded that each laboratory is capable of measuring absolute reaction rates to an accuracy of less than ±2%. Fission yields of six gamma-active nuclides are reported. The primary objective of this work is to demonstrate the capability of measuring fission rates within fast-reactor environments to accuracies approaching 2.5%. It is shown that foil-activation techniques are capable of this accuracy under ideal conditions. Even greater accuracy is possible for relative measurements which utilize the identical gamma-ray detector and nuclear decay data used to measure the fission yield. The fission yields measured in this study are compared to other measurements, and we find that the ENDF/B, Version IV, yields are, in general, consistent to within ±2% of our results for 235U, 238U, and 239Pu.