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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.
James K. Hoffer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 38 | Number 1 | July 2000 | Pages 1-5
Technical Paper | Thirteenth Target Fabrication Specialists’ Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST00-A36106
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The first observation of the beta-layering phenomenon showed that it was possible to fabricate inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets having an outer ablating shell surrounding a symmetric solid layer of DT fusion fuel. The sensitivity of fusion yield to the internal DT ice roughness is a function of many factors, one of which is the relatively low density of solid DT (0.25 g/cm3), leading to a high Atwood number for the ablator/fuel interface. This is one of the issues that has led us to consider other DT-based fuels having higher densities than pure DT but still capable of being automatically redistributed into a uniform layer by beta-layering. The two principle conditions for beta-layering redistribution, self-heating and a moderately high vapor pressure, can be found in only a few other systems. But by concentrating on hydrides of elements in the second row of the periodic chart, we can find materials which should beta-layer and which might be good candidates for fusion fuel. We exclude lithium hydride and beryllium hydride, because these materials are solids at room temperature where an automatic redistribution technique such as beta-layering would not be necessary. Therefore we begin with boron and consider the following materials: