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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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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.
A. Q. L. Nguyen, S. A. Eddinger, H. Huang, M. A. Johnson, Y. T. Lee, R. C. Montesanti, K. A. Moreno, M. E. Schoff
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 399-404
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-18
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Capsules for the National Ignition Facility require measurement of isolated defects on the capsule surface. A phase-shifting diffraction interferometer (PSDI) is used to identify, locate, and measure defects by capturing 71 overlapping ~500-m-diam charge coupled device height maps for software analysis. Using capsules with drilled holes for the purpose of alignment, PSDI data were confirmed with atomic force microscopy by comparing defect data from corresponding equatorial bands. We explored the limitations of the PSDI resulting from unwrapping errors caused by defect slopes greater than the Nyquist sampling theorem. White light interferometry proved to be a useful complementary tool to measure defects that could not be unwrapped by the analysis software. Implementing the PSDI in conjunction with the shell flipper, both developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, allowed for full mapping of shell surfaces by mounting corresponding hemispheres onto the PSDI within a 2-deg accuracy.