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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.
Louis Rosen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 5 | Number 6 | December 1968 | Pages 379-388
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT68-A27964
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent advances in accelerator technology make possible the attainment of very-high-intensity beams of protons at energies well above the pion-production threshold. It appears that both circular and linear machines will be useful for this purpose. The latter promise beams of ≥ 1 mA under well-controlled conditions. Such proton beams are adequate for providing pure high-intensity beams of negative pions for radiation therapy, under conditions of favorable geometry and of variable size and energy distribution. With π− beams, it is feasible to deposit, at essentially any depth in the human organism, at least 100 rad/min of high-linear-energy transfer radiation. This is quite sufficient for radiation therapy on deep-seated tumors and is accomplished under more favorable conditions than attainable with other radiation sources.