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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.
Nicolas Martin, Alain Hébert
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 167 | Number 3 | March 2011 | Pages 177-195
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-45
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The possibility of performing Monte Carlo transport calculations using cross-section probability tables on the entire energy spectrum is discussed in this paper. This method possesses straight advantages toward other representations: Self-shielding effects are represented during the random walk in a straightforward way, and the calculation cost remains below continuous-energy simulations. This study takes advantage of previous contributions made in subgroup-based self-shielding models, regarding the definitions of optimized energy meshes and adequate numerical methods for consistently computing cross-section probability tables. Moment-based probability-table cross sections along with an energy mesh comprising only 295 groups lead to results with a similar level of accuracy to those obtained with a continuous-energy Monte Carlo method. Another innovative aspect of this work is related to the introduction of correlated weight matrices into a Monte Carlo algorithm. These correlated weights are used to represent mutual self-shielding effects occurring where resonances of different isotopes overlap.