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.
Marzio Marseguerra, Enrico Zio
Nuclear Technology | Volume 126 | Number 3 | June 1999 | Pages 279-288
Technical Paper | Radiation | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A2974
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Although the use and disposal of radioactive materials are regulated by appropriate national and international agencies, the possibility that such materials could enter the recycling process as scrap cannot be overlooked. Several incidents in recent years have demonstrated that given the many varied uses of radioactive materials in modern industry and medicine, it is possible for these materials to find a way into a scrap processor's plant, where recycling may lead to internationally widespread contamination. This is a real problem that cannot be ignored.To the authors' knowledge, this problem has been tackled primarily on an experimental basis. A Monte Carlo approach to the modeling of a detection system for scrap-iron-loaded trucks is presented. The crucial point is the representation of system inhomogeneities, which inevitably introduces elements of uncertainty and subjectivity. Correspondingly, the results obtained, while physically reasonable, are such that their substance resides in the general behavior of the curves and in the orders of magnitude.To estimate detectability limits for real situations, both homogeneous and inhomogeneous loads are considered for various positions of shielded and unshielded gamma sources. A sensitivity analysis of the assumptions of the model has shown satisfactory results.