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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.
Stella Maris Oggianu, Hee Cheon No, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 143 | Number 3 | September 2003 | Pages 256-269
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3415
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A strategy is proposed for the assessment of nuclear fuel material economic potential use in future light water reactors (LWRs). In this methodology, both the required enrichment and the fuel performance limits are considered. In order to select the best fuel candidate, the optimal burnup that produces the lowest annual fuel cost within the burnup potential for a given fuel material and smear density ratio is determined.Several nuclear materials are presented as examples of the application of the methodology proposed in this paper. The alternative fuels considered include uranium dioxide (UO2), uranium carbide (UC), uranium nitride (UN), metallic uranium (U-Zr alloy), combined thorium and uranium oxides (ThO2/UO2), and combined thorium and uranium metals (U/Th). For these examples, a typical LWR lattice geometry in a zirconium-based cladding was assumed. The uncertainties in the results presented are large due to the scarcity of experimental data regarding the behavior of the considered materials at high burnups. Also, chemical compatibility issues are to be considered separately.The same methodology can be applied in the future to evaluate the economic potential of other nuclear fuel materials including different cladding designs, dispersions of ceramics into ceramics, dispersions of ceramics into metals, and also for geometries other than the traditional circular fuel pin.
