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Conference Spotlight
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.
Kevin J. Kramer, Jeffery F. Latkowski, Ryan P. Abbott, John K. Boyd, Jeffrey J. Powers, Jeffrey E. Seifried
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 625-631
Laser Fusion-Fission Hybrid | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST18-8132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is currently developing a hybrid fusion-fission nuclear energy system, called LIFE, to generate power and burn nuclear waste. We utilize inertial confinement fusion to drive a subcritical fission blanket surrounding the fusion chamber. It is composed of TRISO-based fuel cooled by the molten salt flibe. Low-yield (37.5 MJ) targets and a repetition rate of 13.3 Hz produce a 500 MW fusion source that is coupled to the subcritical blanket, which provides an additional gain of 4-8, depending on the fuel.In the present work, we describe the neutron transport and nuclear burnup analysis. We utilize standard analysis tools including, the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) transport code, ORIGEN2 and Monte burns to perform the nuclear design. These analyses focus primarily on a fuel composed of depleted uranium not requiring chemical reprocessing or enrichment. However, other fuels such as weapons grade plutonium and highly-enriched uranium are also under consideration. In addition, we have developed a methodology using 6Li as a burnable poison to replace the tritium burned in the fusion targets and to maintain constant power over the lifetime of the engine. The results from depleted uranium analyses suggest up to 99% burnup of actinides is attainable while maintaining full power at 2GW for more than five decades.