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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.
Brent Shumaker, Steven Brewer, Alexander Hashemian, Ryan Kettle
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 390-400
Technical Paper—Instrumentation and Controls | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2067460
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents the results of an ongoing research and development effort to develop an online monitoring (OLM) system to support autonomous microreactor operations. A key component of this work is an evaluation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques to identify, diagnose, and predict problems with sensors and processes of the reactor. As described herein, selected methods of AI/ML were used to identify and diagnose anomalous sensor and system behaviors using data from a thermal-hydraulic flow loop and from operating nuclear power plants. This work serves to further the state of the art in OLM technologies for nuclear reactor applications and will ultimately result in a comprehensive system to enable OLM of critical structures, systems, components, and processes in microreactors.