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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
T. Shimozuma, M. Yokoyama, K. Ida, Y. Takeiri, S. Kubo, S. Murakami, A. Wakasa, H. Idei, Y. Yoshimura, T. Notake, S. Inagaki, N. Tamura, K. Toi, N. Ohyabu, M. Osakabe, K. Ikeda, K. Tsumori, Y. Oka, K. Nagaoka, O. Kaneko, I. Yamada, K. Narihara, Y. Nagayama, S. Muto, K. Tanaka, T. Tokuzawa, S. Morita, M. Goto, M. Yoshinuma, H. Funaba, T. Morisaki, K. Y. Watanabe, J. Miyazawa, T. Mutoh, T. Watari, K. Ohkubo, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 38-45
Chapter 3. Confinement and Transport | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10791
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Core electron-root confinement (CERC), observed in the Large Helical Device as well as in other helical devices, is an improved electron energy confinement mode. It is characterized by a highly peaked electron temperature profile in the core region and appears when the centrally focused electron cyclotron resonance heating power exceeds a certain threshold value. This threshold value has been clarified to associate with the transition of the radial electric field (Er) from the ion root (small negative value) to the electron root (large positive value greater than a few kV/m), based on the bifurcation nature of Er due to the ambipolarity condition of neoclassical transport fluxes that is specific in nonaxisymmetric configurations. It has been experimentally recognized that a steeper Te gradient is realized with a clear transition (power threshold nature) in target plasmas with counter neutral beam injection (NBI) than ones with codirectional NBI. It has been interpreted, based on the heat pulse propagation experiment, to be related to the rational surface or the island induced by the NBI-driven current. Transport analyses have shown that the incremental thermal diffusivity of electron heat transport becomes lower, and the standard thermal diffusivity decreases with the increase of heating power in CERC plasmas.