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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 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.
Victor E. Grob, E. Santandrea, Hilmar Ritz
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 7 | Number 6 | June 1960 | Pages 514-524
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE60-A25760
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the Yankee and the Belgian Reactor-3 Critical Experiments program at the Westinghouse Reactor Evaluation Center, measurements have been made of the parameters leading to p, f, and ϵ in a light-water moderated heterogeneous reactor with slightly enriched UO2 fuel rods clad in stainless steel. A detailed description of this reactor is given in reference 1. Measurements were made using 4.48% and 2.73% enriched fuel with lattice pitches of 0.470 and 0.435 in. The individual UO2 sintered pellets, in the fuel rods, had a diameter of 0.300 in. and a length of 0.600 in. The 4.48% and 2.73% fuel rods contained 90 and 80 pellets, respectively. The stainless steel cladding was 0.305 in. i.d. and 0.347 in. o.d. for the 4.48% enriched fuel, and 0.306 in. i.d. and 0.338 in. o.d. in the case of 2.73% enrichment. The measurements were performed using a higher fuel enrichment than used previously at Bettis (2, 3) and elsewhere for similar experiments, thus uncovering a large unexplored range of enrichments.