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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
Rodolfo M. Ferrer, Joshua M. Hykes
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 2 | February 2023 | Pages 333-350
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2053491
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Spatially Dependent Self-Shielding (SDSS) method has been implemented into CASMO5 within the framework of Equivalence Theory. The Optimal Two-Term Rational (OTTR) approximation is extended in the SDSS method to the Stoker-Weiss treatment of concentric annular fuel subdivisions. Reference fuel-to-fuel probabilities are required by the OTTR and obtained by performing a series of fixed-source, two-dimensional transport calculations for individual pin cell types using the method of characteristics. Several algorithms used in searching for the OTTR coefficients are evaluated with the goal of obtaining the best practical accuracy at minimal computational cost. Numerical results are presented that provide a comparison of various choices of search algorithms and show improved accuracy obtained by increasing the degrees of freedom in the rational approximation. Spatial profiles of the 238U microscopic absorption cross sections in the resonance range obtained using the Distributed Resonance Integral (DRI) and SDSS methods are compared to reference results from Monte Carlo calculations. The comparison highlights the inherent advantages of SDSS over the previous DRI method.