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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.
Winston H. Bostick
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 12 | Number 1 | July 1987 | Pages 92-103
Technical Paper | Experimental Device | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25053
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In 1966, the Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) plasma focus group demonstrated experimentally that the current sheath of the plasma focus is carried by pairs of plasma vortex filaments, which exhibit a force-free, Beltrami-type morphology. Experiments at SIT in 1980 and at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory (AFWL) show that relativistic electron beams traveling through a background gas of ∼1 Torr, and even in a “vacuum” diode, exhibit the same type of filamentary morphology, but on a spatial dimension scale, which extends down to the 1-µm region. Some of the experimental evidence accumulated in work at AFWL from 1979 to 1981, which supports the statement that there is a close similarity between current-carrying morphologies of the plasma focus and the relativistic beam machines, is presented.