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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.
Guangliang Chen, Zhijian Zhang, Zhaofei Tian, Thompson Appah, Lei Li, Xiaomeng Dong, Peizheng Hu
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 188 | Number 3 | December 2017 | Pages 270-281
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2017.1367568
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a subchannel analysis, the assumptions of the physical models may be invalid when three-dimensional (3-D) effects play an important role because a large-scale model cannot consider a small-scale physical process. However, in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), the flow process has a high 3-D effect due to the effect of complex structures, such as dimple, spring, and mixing vane. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis can give more detailed physical information. So, the modeling assumptions of the subchannel analysis codes were analyzed using data from CFD analysis, and some issues were found: The spatial acceleration of the cross-flow rate and the viscous force from fluid to fluid should not be neglected; the lateral pressure gradient not only is a driving force but also can be a resistance at some vertical range; the traditional “resistant force term” has the same direction with the cross flow at some vertical ranges. To improve the subchannel code, one physical term considering both the driving and the resistance effect is suggested to be added in the traditional transverse momentum equation. The solution for this new term and the method using spatial acceleration of the cross flow were also provided.