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.
Pablo E. Araya, Miles Greiner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 167 | Number 3 | September 2009 | Pages 384-394
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9078
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments performed by Lovett (1991) measured the temperature of an 8 × 8 array of horizontal heated rods in air within a constant temperature enclosure. That apparatus was a scaled-down model of a spent boiling water reactor fuel assembly in a transport package. In the current work, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations of natural convection and radiation heat transfer within this domain were conducted to determine appropriate boundary conditions and benchmark the results. Initial simulations employed nearly equal specified temperatures on the walls and endplates, and insulated rod ends. They accurately reproduced the shapes of the temperature profiles in the midplane but overpredicted the temperature level at the highest heat load. Simulations that included conduction within the endplates and convection from their outside surfaces more accurately modeled heat losses and brought the midplane temperatures close to the measured data. These experiences will be used to design experiments to benchmark simulations of spent fuel assemblies in transport package support structures.