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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
Greg Staack, Yung-Sung Cheng, Yue Zhou, Tom LaBone
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 4 | May 2017 | Pages 570-574
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1291041
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Samples of tritiated LaNi4.15Al0.85 (LANA.85) and 13X zeolite were analyzed to obtain particle size distributions and tritium evolution rates in a simulated lung environment. This information was used to calculate intake-to-dose conversion factors (DCFs), which estimate the committed effective dose (CED) a worker would receive after inhaling either tritiated particulate. The DCFs for tritiated LANA.85 and 13X particulate with a default activity mean aerodynamic diameter (AMAD) of 5 μm were determined to be 1.01E-11 Sv/Bq and 1.11E-11 Sv/Bq, respectively. These results are comparable to that of HTO, 1.8E-11 Sv/Bq, indicating that urine bioassay results can conservatively estimate the dose delivered if the worker was exposed to any mixture of HTO, LANA.85, or 13X.
