ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Daniel A. Vega, Taku Watanabe, Susan B. Sinnott, Simon R. Phillpot, James S. Tulenko
Nuclear Technology | Volume 165 | Number 3 | March 2009 | Pages 308-312
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A4103
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A proof-of-principle study is presented in which the results of atomic-level simulations of the thermal expansion and thermal conductivity of UO2 are integrated into the fuel performance code FRAPCON. The beginning-of-life (BOL) thermal conductivity profile of a fuel pellet and the evolution of the pellet expansion over its lifetime are determined. It is found that (a) modifying FRAPCON to accept input from atomistic simulations (or elsewhere, such as new experiments or other calculations) is relatively straightforward, at least for these two properties, and (b) the properties determined from atomistic simulations yield predictions in FRAPCON that are in good agreement for the BOL thermal conductivity, but much less satisfactory for the pellet expansion.