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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.
Neill P. Taylor, Wolfgang Raskob
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 359-366
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Experimental Devices and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1514
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Throughout the various phases of the ITER project, extensive safety analyses have been performed to ensure that potential hazards to the public, the environment, and personnel are minimized. This work, done before a location for ITER had been chosen, resulted in a very comprehensive assessment of ITER safety in terms of the impact at a "generic site". By making good use of the favourable safety and environmental characteristics of fusion, a very good outcome was achieved.Now that the Cadarache site, in southern France, has been selected for ITER construction, it is necessary to reanalyze the impact of postulated accidental releases of tritium and activated material, taking into account the specific conditions of the site. These include regulatory requirements on dose limits and on assumptions to be made in analyses, as well as local environmental factors such as weather conditions, population demographics, and local food production and consumption patterns.This paper discusses the impact on the ITER safety case of new dispersion and dose calculations for accidental releases, taking into account these site-specific conditions. These indicate that doses arising from the release masses calculated for the most challenging accident scenario in previous generic-site studies will meet the new dose limits by a very large margin.