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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
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.
T. P. Bernat, D. N. Bittner, S. Carter, B. Lawson, B. Motta, N. Petta, S. Phommarine
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 3 | April 2009 | Pages 343-348
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A6961
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Indirect-drive ignition targets require that the hohlraums contain a gas of helium, hydrogen, or a mixture of the two. For this purpose, thin polyimide windows must cover the laser entrance holes and any other hohlraum ports. We have fabricated, assembled, and tested such windows and have measured their deflection as a function of applied pressure. We also measured the permeation of helium through them. We find that the deflection is approximately linear with pressure and that the two polyimide formulations that we tested are internally consistent as well as consistent with the earlier data of Powell and Lopez when scaled for geometry. We also find that the permeation is linear with pressure, despite the large increase in window area-to-thickness ratio that occurs during a measurement run that results from the window deflection and thinning as the pressure increases. The permeability of our spin-cast material is 0.65 × 10-13 sccs/cmPa, with an uncertainty of 15% (sccs = standard cubic centimeters per second).