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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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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.
Zhipeng Feng, Fenggang Zang, Shuai Liu, Huanhuan Qi, Xuan Huang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 428-442
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2118478
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To further investigate fluid-structure–interaction problems that occur in the nuclear field such as the behavior of pressurized water reactor fuel rods, steam generator tubes, and other heat exchanger tubes, the flow-induced vibrations of two flexible tubes in tandem, side-by-side, and in staggered arrangements are investigated. First, a three-dimensional numerical model for fluid-structure interaction of flexible tubes in cross flow is developed. It is a three-dimensional fully coupled approach with solving the fluid flow and the structure vibration simultaneously. Second, results are presented in the form of force coefficients, dynamic response, trajectories, and wake vortex pattern. The effects of pitch ratio, tube arrangement, and flow velocity on the vibration response and the flow field characteristic are investigated. Critical pitch and critical velocity are obtained successfully. The critical velocity depends heavily on pitch ratio. Under the same pitch ratio and velocity, the side-by-side tubes have the maximum value of fluid force and vibration amplitude, followed by the staggered tubes the and tandem tubes in sequence. The trajectory and wake vortex pattern are highly dependent on tube arrangement, pitch ratio, and flow velocity.