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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.
J.D. Sethian, A.E. Robson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1613-1615
Alternative Concept | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39990
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The dense z-pinch is considered as the basis for a compact and relatively simple fusion reactor. The pinch is created in a 200 µm diameter vortex of heavy water formed on the axis of a cylindrical pressure vessel of approximately one meter in radius. The water is the electrical insulator, the heat transfer medium, and acts as a continuously replaceable first wall. The pinch is pulsed repetitively at 120 Hz and with an input power of 17 MWe would produce about 500 MWth. The concept makes considerable use of existing pressurized water fission reactor technology. Experiments underway to test the plasma physics aspect of this concept have demonstrated that a pinch carrying 330 kA can be formed in quartz capillaries of diameters between 200–1600 µm which are filled with deuterium at pressures ranging from 80 mm to 20 atmospheres.