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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 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!
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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.
G. Noguere, D. Bernard, P. Blaise, O. Bouland, L. Leal, P. Leconte, O. Litaize, Y. Peneliau, B. Roque, A. Santamarina, J.-F. Vidal
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 182 | Number 2 | February 2016 | Pages 135-150
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE15-9
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An overestimation of the keff values for mixed oxide (MOX) fuels was identified with Monte Carlo (TRIPOLI-4) and deterministic (APOLLO2) calculations based on the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) evaluated nuclear data library. The overestimation becomes sizeable with Pu aging, reaching a reactivity change of Δρ≈+700 pcm for integral measurements carried out with MOX fuel containing a large amount of americium. This bias was observed for various critical configurations performed in the zero-power reactor EOLE of the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Cadarache, France. The present work focuses on the improvements achieved with the new 239Pu and 241Am evaluated nuclear data files available in the latest version of the JEFF library (JEFF-3.2). The resolved resonance range of the plutonium evaluation was reevaluated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with the SAMMY code in collaboration with CEA Cadarache. The resonance parameters of the americium evaluation were obtained with the REFIT code in collaboration with the research institutes Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Geel, Belgium, and Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l’Univers (Irfu), Saclay, France.
