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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.
Wei Xu, Jianhua Xia, Xiaojing Liu, Xu Cheng, Wei Zeng
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 1 | January-February 2019 | Pages 281-296
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1457887
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Bottom reflooding is the third phase when a large-break loss-of-coolant accident occurs. Due to the complexity and importance, especially in a distinct narrow rectangular channel, various research methods can be utilized to understand the whole process. Test facility is established to figure out the thermal-hydraulic behaviors during bottom reflooding, and the acquisition of accurate solid temperature is essential. The inverse heat transfer problem method is applied to take full advantage of experimental data. In addition, a bottom reflooding transient (BRT) code is utilized to calculate various parameters conveniently. A three-dimensional heat conduction equation for a transient state is solved implicitly to obtain solid temperature distribution, surface heat flux, and heat transfer coefficient at the cooling surface. The simulation results of the BRT code are compared with that of RELAP5, an available system code, and the experimental results. A conclusion that can be derived is that the BRT code shows good applicability of simulating bottom reflooding in a narrow rectangular channel.