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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.
R. L. French, L. G. Mooney
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 43 | Number 3 | March 1971 | Pages 273-280
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A19973
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effect of the air-ground interface on the scattered fast-neutron dose near the ground was measured at a distance of 1000 ft from a 14-MeV neutron source. The source was the HENRE accelerator operated at a height of 112 ft on the BREN tower at the Nevada Test Site. A horizontal slab of polyethylene 1 ft thick and 5 ft square, with Hurst-type fast-neutron dosimeters mounted on its upper and lower surfaces, separated the neutrons arriving through the upper 2π solid angle from those from the lower 2π. A third detector, mounted on a boom, measured the free-field. The entire assembly was suspended by a hoist system to make measurements at 0.75 to 70 ft above the ground. The scattered dose at the top detector was essentially constant; that at the bottom detector increased by a factor of approximately 2 between 0.75 and 70 ft, and the free-field dose increased by < 25% over the same height range. The experiment provided confirmation, both qualitative and quantitative, of the “first-last collision model” of the air-ground interface effect.