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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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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.
Richard W. Smith, Gary S. Was
Nuclear Technology | Volume 69 | Number 2 | May 1985 | Pages 198-209
Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33631
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The FCODE-BETA/SS code, based on the Electric Power Research Institute’s FCODE-BETA, is constructed to model the thermal-mechanical performance of Type 304 stainless steel clad pressurized water reactor fuel rods. Specifically, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, irradiation creep, temperature-dependent material parameters and gap conductance for Type 304 stainless steel clad fuel rods are modeled. FCODEBETA/SS is benchmarked against end-oflife fission gas release and creep strain data from Connecticut Yankee fuel rods. Benchmarking results on key performance variables are comparable to those of FCODEBETA and COMETHE. Using FCODE-BETA/SS to compare the performance of Type 304 stainless steel and Zircaloy clad fuel over a common power history reveals that Type 304 stainless steel clad rods display higher fuel temperatures, wider gaps, and longer times to gap closure than Zircaloy clad rods. The stainless steel cladding spends only a small fraction of life in a state of tensile stress at the ridge, but the magnitudes of these ridge stresses are significantly greater than those found in Zircaloy rods. Nevertheless, the thermal performance of the two rod types is very similar.
