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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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!
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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.
Juan J. Manzano-Ruiz, David Gordon Wilson
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 88 | Number 3 | November 1984 | Pages 275-286
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE84-A18582
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A test rig was built to run steady-state experiments with air/water mixtures at low pressure (42 kPa), and to determine the performance characteristics of two-phase flow through a centrifugal pump. Application is to a loss-of-coolant accident situation in nuclear reactor power plants if a large break in one of the primary pump legs took place. Two feasible accident conditions were tested; first- (forward flow and rotation) and third-quadrant (reverse flow and rotation) conditions. A significant head-pump degradation process was observed in the first-quadrant operation for increasing amounts of gas supplied, whereas in the third quadrant no difference in performance was detected with respect to single-phase flow and up to an inlet volumetric quality of 20%. The data gathered have been correlated in terms of a defined head-loss ratio, flow coefficient, and volumetric quality, which facilitates its use in predicting pump performance in similar designs of different scale.