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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
Yuji Hatano, Andrei Busnyuk, Alexander Livshits, Hirofumi Homma, Masao Matsuyama
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 990-994
Technical Paper | Tritium, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1623
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Niobium is a potential candidate of tube material in vacuum permeator for tritium recovery from Pb-17Li liquid blanket system. From this viewpoint, the permeation of hydrogen through a Nb membrane was investigated with an ultra-high vacuum apparatus under the conditions relevant to the blanket system where no oxide films could be retained on the membrane surfaces. It was, however, found that the permeation rate sharply decreased with increasing oxygen concentration in the bulk of membrane; at upstream H2 pressure of 1 Pa and membrane temperature of 700°C, for example, the permeation rate at oxygen concentration corresponding to oxygen potential in Pb-17Li (0.054 at%) was evaluated to be 1/5 of the value expected from hydrogen solubility and diffusivity in Nb. Such small permeation rate was ascribed to the presence of oxygen monolayer formed by surface segregation from the bulk. Surface modification by Pd coating was found to give only limited improvement due to degradation in coating effect induced by interdiffusion between Pd and Nb. Methods to improve the high temperature stability of Pd coating was discussed.
