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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.
Mitchel E. Cunningham, Courtney R. Hann, Anthony R. Olsen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | March 1980 | Pages 457-467
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32400
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
With the increasing sophistication and use of computer codes in the nuclear industry, there is a growing awareness of the need to identify and quantify the uncertainties of these codes. Work is now being performed at Battelle-Pacific Northwest Laboratories to study the uncertainties in steady-state stored energy calculations by using linear propagation of uncertainties. This method predicts the uncertainty of variables by propagating input variances through models. Comparison of Monte Carlo analysis to linear propagation shows good agreement and verifies the adequacy of linear propagation. Linear power, radial gap width, fuel thermal conductivity, flux depression, and fuel heat capacity are all shown to be parameters of major importance when calculating both stored energy and its uncertainty. The uncertainty for stored energy at beginning-of-life is ∼17% (99% confidence level) and rises to a maximum of 37% during a simulated two-cycle power history.