ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
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.
Yasuhiro Suzuki
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 3 | April 2011 | Page 626
Appendix A | Fourth ITER International Summer School (IISS2010) / Extended Abstracts | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11707
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The stellarator and heliotron are alternate candidates for magnetically confined fusion devices. A major difference is the source of the rotational transform [iota] = 1/q. In tokamaks, the rotational transform [iota] is produced by coupling the symmetric toroidal field and the poloidal field produced by the plasma current along the toroidal direction. Strictly speaking, the tokamak configuration can be assumed to be a two-dimensional (2-D) system. Note that the rotational transform does not exist for the vacuum. For stellarator and heliotron configurations, the rotational transform is produced by the shaping of flux surfaces. To shape flux surfaces, the vacuum magnetic field is produced by external coils with helical-winding laws. This means the vacuum magnetic field produced for the vacuum is intrinsically three dimensional (3-D). Thus, the plasma current is not required to make flux surfaces. This characteristic is an advantage. Since the plasma current is not necessary, disruptions do not appear and steady-state operation is possible. However, because of the 3-D plasma responses, experimental and theoretical studies become more complex.