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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
Koichi Sekimizu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 37 | Number 3 | March 1978 | Pages 296-312
Technical paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A31996
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A quasi-optimum fuel assembly allocation scheme for boiling water reactors was proposed and confirmed. It is characteristic of the scheme that the criteria function is represented by fuel assembly allotment to fuel groups. For each fuel group, a required property is given beforehand, and fuel assemblies are allocated to the core to determine the group property as closely as possible. By using the scheme, a fuel assembly allocation is obtained that has a large cycle burnup within a restriction for the peak-to-average power ratio. Another allocation is obtained that results in a large burnup of discharged fuel using a different criteria function. However, it is impossible to obtain a strictly optimum solution for a given criteria function because of the vast number of possible fuel assembly allocations. The search range is reduced by adopting a two-step scheme. In the first step, an optimum allocation of fresh fuel assemblies is searched for, based on proper criteria. Then, in the second step, without moving the fresh fuel assemblies, an allocation of reload fuel assemblies is determined that ascertains the required group property as closely as possible. Results of the numerical calculation show that the scheme is very useful for practical fuel assembly allocation.