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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.
Sijun Zhang, Xiang Zhao, Zhi Yang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 189 | Number 2 | February 2018 | Pages 135-151
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2017.1388090
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents computational fluid dynamics (CFD) gas flow simulations within a segment of the pebble bed core. The realistic packing structure in an entire pebble bed reactor (PBR) is produced by a means of discrete element method. The packing structure in the segment of the PBR core is then obtained. The gas flow through the voids formed by the packed pebbles is computed by CFD. It is found that the packing structure of pebbles in the PBR is crucial to CFD simulation results. On the other hand, in our numerical simulations both large eddy simulation and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes models are employed to study the effects of different turbulence models on gas flow field and relevant heat transfer. The calculations indicate the complex flow structure within the voids among the pebbles, which play the key role in heat transfer predictions.