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.
Leib Finkelstein
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 32 | Number 2 | May 1968 | Pages 241-248
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE68-A19736
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A complete inverse mass expansion is derived for the difference-differential equation describing neutron moderation in infinite homogeneous media, far energetically from the sources. We consider slowing down equations with different values of the nucleus-to-neutron mass ratio, and a common value of the capture-to-scattering cross-section ratio. The latter is assumed to be an analytic function of lethargy. A preliminary analysis suggests the functional form of the leading term of the expansion. Further treatment leads to a first-order, linear, inhomogeneous, ordinary differential equation satisfied by the expansion terms. Different terms of the expansion correspond to different free terms of the differential equation. Imposing a normalization condition, the solution of the differential equation is made unique, and a formal, practically effective solution to the general asymptotic moderation problem is obtained.