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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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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.
Shu-Huan Liu, Aqil Hussain, Da Li, Xiaoqiang Guo, Zhuo-Qi Li, Olarewaju Mubashiru Lawal, Jiangkun Yang, Wei Chen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 191 | Number 1 | July 2018 | Pages 98-103
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1450004
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For evaluating the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) performance during and after gamma-ray irradiation, the characteristics of the direct current (dc) gain of the test samples changed with increasing irradiation dose, and collector current injection levels during 60Co gamma irradiation were measured and analyzed. The experimental results of the typical dc and alternating current (ac) electronic parameters before and after irradiation revealed that the base current Ib, the collector current IC, the dc current gain, and the maximum oscillation frequency fmax exhibited degradation. While other electronic parameters including the cut-off frequency fT, the ac current gain |H21|, and output capacitance CBC did not exhibit any significant change compared with those of pre-irradiation. The degradation mechanisms of the typical dc and ac parameters measured in this work were primarily analyzed. The tested results of SiGe HBTs offered some reference data for evaluating the behavior of the test type of device operated in an ionizing radiation environment.
