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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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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.
Yigal Ronen, Menashe Aboudy, Dror Regev
Nuclear Technology | Volume 129 | Number 3 | March 2000 | Pages 407-417
Technical Note | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT00-A3071
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A novel system for energy production is presented. This system has a modular composition of homogeneous reactors with H2O and 242mAm as a fuel. These reactors are spheres of 0.11-m radius and 1-MW(thermal) power and with a critical mass of 0.0201 kg of 242mAm.The advantages of homogeneous reactors are constant fuel reprocessing and constant refueling. As a result, there is a reduction of fission products, which improves the ratio of natural cooling to heat production with respect to a loss-of-control accident (LOCA) and other safety aspects. Homogeneous reactors also have a large negative temperature coefficient and small inherent excess reactivity during operation.The reactor concept we have presented for a very small, homogeneous reactor, further enhances the safety aspects in the case of a LOCA, because of a large surface-to-volume ratio.The improved safety, the simplicity, and the small volume should compensate for the use of an unconventional nuclear fuel.
