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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.
F. Sandras, C. Hermerel, A. Choux, P. Mérillot, G. Pin, L. Jeannot
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 389-398
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7416
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To characterize the shape, the quality, and the roughness of microshells, typically used technologies are scanning electron microscopy, scanning interferometric microscopy, or atomic force microscopy. One of the drawbacks of these techniques is that they are generally slow because of their scanning process. Digital holographic microscopy technology is an innovation that can offer ability adapted to these studies. It captures holograms instead of intensity images, as done by conventional microscopes. The holograms are then digitally interpreted (10 per second) to reconstruct a double image, one for the intensity and another one for the phase. Using a rotation axis, the bump counting for the complete microshell surface is possible with a very high speed. Using an image stitching software, mapping can be done in a few minutes. Wavelets such as "Mexican hat" are used to model the bumps. Each bump can then be characterized on the map by its position, diameter, and height.