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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.
A. J. Buslik
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 32 | Number 2 | May 1968 | Pages 233-240
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE68-A19735
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Few-group diffusion equations are derived from variational principles. It is shown that by proper choice of trial function it is possible to derive a few-group theory in which interface boundary conditions of continuity of few-group fluxes and currents are obtained, even when the few-group constants are obtained by flux-adjoint weighting. The analysis is facilitated by the use of functionals that incorporate the interface condition of flux continuity by means of Lagrange multipliers. Two functionals are used to give two variants of the theory. Both functionals have as Euler equations the P-1 approximation to the time-independent, eigenvalue form of the energy-dependent transport equation. In addition, the current and flux interface boundary conditions are part of the complement of Euler conditions of the functionals. The functionals admit trial functions discontinuous in space and energy. The two functionals differ in that one has both flux and current arguments, whereas the other has only flux arguments, and yields the P-1 equations in second-order diffusion form.