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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.
Yasushi Nomura, Hiroshi Okuno
Nuclear Technology | Volume 109 | Number 1 | January 1995 | Pages 142-152
Technical Paper | Nuclear Criticality Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35074
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For handling of nuclear fuel during reprocessing or for design of spent-fuel storage and transportation, one needs to know the scale of maximum credible criticality accidents, i.e., the total fission number so as to know the radiological exposure of working personnel as well as the risk to the public in the event of an accident. Some simplified evaluation models for conservatively predicting the number of total fissions during an accident are derived theoretically using the one-point adiabatic reactivity balance model for the homogeneous and heterogeneous systems, respectively, which are frequently seen in nuclear fuel facilities. These simplified evaluation models are subsequently validated with the transient experiment data and actual accident data published to date from the world nuclear community. Some conventionally used simplified evaluation models of this kind are quoted and compared with the results to show the convenience of the current models, having almost no restrictions in the application for any kind of nuclear fuel, material composition, geometry, and dimension, and thus, ensuring adequate margins for predicting the total fission number at the time of a critsssicality accident.