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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.
K. Macku, F. Jatuff, M. Murphy, M. Plaschy, P. Grimm, O. P. Joneja, R. Chawla
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 155 | Number 1 | January 2007 | Pages 96-101
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE07-A2647
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the context of the LWR-PROTEUS program, radial and azimuthal 235U fission (F5) and 238U capture (C8) rate distributions have been calculated for zero-burnup pins of a Westinghouse SVEA-96 Optima2 boiling water reactor fuel assembly using the stochastic MCNP4C and the deterministic CASMO-4 codes. The within-pin F5 distributions predicted by the two codes are in very good agreement; the C8 distributions are more pronounced, and there are significant discrepancies between the codes, both azimuthally and radially. The calculations have been compared with experimental results obtained from activation foil measurements in two pins of the assembly irradiated in the center of the PROTEUS test zone. The measurements confirm that the two codes can accurately predict the radial and azimuthal F5 distributions but that MCNP4C within-pin C8 distributions are much more accurate than those of CASMO-4.