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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 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.
D. J. Murphy, Jr., W. M. Farr, B. D. Ganapol
Nuclear Technology | Volume 45 | Number 3 | October 1979 | Pages 299-306
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32298
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Elimination of long-lived transplutonium actinides by fissioning in a generic actinide burner reactor (a reactor fueled solely with waste actinides) was investigated. The results showed that actinide elimination by fissioning is enhanced by increasing the average energy of the neutron flux spectrum. In addition, the reactivity worths and the fission-to-capture rate ratios of the individual actinide nuclides increased with increasing flux spectrum energy. This suggests that specially designed fast reactors of relatively small size and having metal alloy fuel may effectively dispose of the waste actinides produced by several large light water reactors in a mixed reactor community. The fuel value of waste actinides was studied, and the replacement of at least some conventional mixed-oxide fast reactor fuel by waste actinides (to conserve a fuel resource) was proposed. It is calculated that the time required to reach equilibrium actinide concentrations in the reactor core, after many refueling periods, is shorter for reactors having higher neutron flux energies. Also, increasing the specific power density within the reactor core both decreases the equilibrium actinide concentrations in the core and increases the time required for equilibrium conditions.