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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.
Qian Zhang, Liang Liang, Qiang Zhao, Zhijian Zhang, Hongchun Wu, Liangzhi Cao
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 194 | Number 3 | March 2020 | Pages 232-247
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2019.1664146
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Embedded Self-Shielding Method (ESSM) coupled with the heterogeneous Resonance Integral tables and the Enhanced Neutron Current Method (ENCM) with equivalent Dancoff factor are reviewed and reformulated to a unified framework by incorporating the ultra-fine-group slowing-down calculation on two-dimensional square pin cell problems. The comparison between the two approaches on the resonance self-shielding calculation of irregular fuel lattices shows that the reformulated ESSM approach will bring errors to the cross-section prediction of fuel pins in the irregular lattice, especially when the moderator density is low. Also, the reformulated ENCM approach is more stable for different configurations. Further numerical tests show that the scalar flux calculated by the ESSM approach is affected by the global neutron balance across the fuel lattice and ESSM is more sensitive to the error brought by the enforced equivalence.