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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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.
Soren Harrison et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 277-281
Divertor and High-Heat-Flux Components | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18089
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Operational requirements and research considerations make a high-temperature, toroidally continuous outer divertor an important upgrade to the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. Leading edge melting of tiles, non-uniform heat loads, large electromagnetic forces, and localized impurity sources limit the performance of bulk plasmas. These issues can be addressed by the installation of a well-aligned, toroidally continuous outer divertor. Additionally, future long pulse operation will cause the temperature of the outer divertor to reach bulk temperatures as high as 500 - 600 °C. This future operational requirement combined with the strong temperature dependence of plasma surface interactions (especially fuel retention), makes a controllable, high-temperature outer divertor desirable and necessary. The motivation, criteria, design, and R&D for the upgrade are discussed below.
