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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.
D. J. Meeker, J. H. Hammer, C. W. Hartman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1191-1197
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39929
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We discuss the possibility of achieving energy, power and power density necessary for ICF by magnetically accelerating plasma confined by a compact torus (CT) field configuration. The CT, which consists of a dipole (poloidal) field and imbedded toroidal field formed by force-free, plasma current, is compressed and accelerated between coaxial electrodes by Bθ fields as in a coaxial rail-gun. Compression and acceleration over several meters by a 9.4 MJ capacitor bank is predicted to give a 5.7 cm radius, 0.001 gm CT 5 MJ kinetic energy (107 m/sec). Transport and focussing several meters by a disposable lithium pipe across the containment vessel is predicted to bring 4.8 MJ into the pellet region in 0.5 cm2 area in 0.3 ns. The high efficiency (∼ 50%) and high energy delivery of the CT accelerator could lead to low cost, few hundred MW power plants that are economically viable.