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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.
C. A. Flanagan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1297-1300
Next-Generation Device | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39947
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
One critical issue examined in the present phase of the International Tokamak Reactor (INTOR) has been an evaluation of the technical benefit of dividing up the design and component production tasks of all major advanced technologies among all participants. Two approaches were evaluated: (a) a “splitting” approach in which each country provides 1/4 of the components of each major system (e.g., 3 of 12 TF coils), (b) a “branching” approach in which each country provides all components of selected major systems (e.g., first country provides all TF coils, second country provides all torus sectors, etc.). Quantitative cost and schedule estimates were developed for each of the two approaches and compared to the cost and schedule of the entire device if it were produced only by one country. The results of the U.S. evaluation indicated that the ratio of total estimated cost to the “national” cost was 1.66 for “splitting” and 1.20 for “branching.” The cost per participant was 0.41 and 0.30, respectively. The increase in the construction schedule was estimated to be 2.6 years.