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.
International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management 2022 Speaker
Tito Bonano is currently Principal Advisor, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Programs at NAC International, Inc. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the nuclear energy fuel cycle, particularly in nuclear waste management. At Sandia National Laboratories, until his retirement in December 2021, Tito was a senior manager leading a multidisciplinary organization conducting R&D projects in both the front end and back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. He played key roles in the initial NRC projects to develop their performance assessment capabilities, the WIPP program, and was a member of the OCRWM leadership team that developed the License Application for the Yucca Mountain Repository, first as licensing manager for the Lead Laboratory for Repository Systems and the subsequently as the Lead Laboratory’s senior program manager.
Based on his own experiences working in the WIPP and Yucca Mountain programs, Tito has had a keen interest in the intersection between the physical sciences and engineering and the policy, social and economic issues related to nuclear energy and nuclear waste management. He was co-founder and co-director of the joint University of Oklahoma – Sandia National Laboratories Center for Energy, Security and Society established in 2013 following several decades of collaborations between the two institutions.
Tito is the winner of two Secretary of Energy Achievement Awards in 2018 and in 2021, and of two Great Minds in STEM’s Hispanic Engineer Awards: Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 and Lifetime Achievement Award– National Laboratory in 2020.
Tito’s degrees in chemical engineering include a B.S. from the University Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and M.S. and Ph.D. from Clarkson University.
Last modified September 12, 2022, 7:50am MST
