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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.
Kazuki Hida, Ritsuo Yoshioka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 80 | Number 3 | March 1988 | Pages 423-430
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34066
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The axial enrichment distribution of boiling water reactor fuel is optimized to improve uranium utilization subject to constraints on thermal margins. It is assumed that the reactor is operated under the Haling strategy, so that determination of the enrichment distribution can be decoupled from the poison management. This nonlinear optimization problem is solved using a method of approximation programming, where each iteration step is formulated in terms of linear goal programming to handle infeasible problems. The core is represented by an axial one-dimensional model. The average enrichment of a two-region fuel can be slightly reduced by increasing the enrichment of the lower half rather than the upper half. The optimal solutions for a 24-region fuel, in which the enrichments of individual nodes can differ from one another, display double-humped enrichment distributions. The natural uranium blanket design is also investigated, and it is concluded that blanketed fuel is practically optimal using the Haling strategy.