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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.
D. E. Post, R. Mattas
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 779-790
Plasma Heating, Impurity Control, and Fueling | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A40130
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Poloidal divertors and pumped limiters are the leading candidates for impurity and particle control systems for ignited tokamaks. Such systems must be able to provide heat removal and He pumping while satisfying the requirements for (1) minimum plasma contamination by impurities, (2) reasonable component lifetime (∼ 1 year), and (3) minimum size and cost and maximum simplicity. The advantage of poloidal divertor systems is that they offer the possibility of low sputtering rates for the first wall components and modest pumping requirements due to the formation of a cool, dense plasma near the collector plates. Estimates made as part of the INTOR study indicate that the sputtering rates for pumped limiters could be unacceptably large. A engineering design study of a poloidal divertor system for an ignited tokamak indicates that such a system offers a reasonable solution to the impurity and particle control problem at only a modest increase in total reactor cost (∼7%) and complexity compared to a pumped limiter system.