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.
Inyoung Song, Seung Chang Yoo (UNIST), Taehyun Lee, Kyungha Ryu (KIMM), Ji Hyun Kim (UNIST)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 262-266
Polymeric materials widely used in safety-related equipment are relatively vulnerable to severe environments such as high temperature and radiation environment during the severe accident. Therefore, to ensure the integrity and performance of the safety-related equipment, degradation effect of severe accident on polymer must be investigated.
In this paper, to evaluate the degradation effect of radiation and heat during normal operating condition and severe accident environment, hardness measurement and tensile test were carried out. And FT-IR analysis was conducted to investigate the molecular structure and bonds. The mechanical properties were not changed significantly in pre-aging, normal operating condition. But radiation of severe accident environment significantly affects the mechanical properties of fluoroelastomer and molecular structure, such as C=O formation.