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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
Joseph R. Petrella, Jr., Michael J. D’Agostino, Mark Cropper, Jessica Guttenfelder
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 8 | November 2019 | Pages 810-814
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1622989
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An electrical insulation web winding and optical inspection system has been developed to provide semiautomatic material handling and machine vision inspection of composite electromagnet coil insulation materials. Composite electrical insulation for electromagnet conductor insulation typically comprises a nonconductive woven filler (typically S-Glass), nonconductive film (typically Kapton®), and fixating resin. Prior to the subject system, the stock woven filler and film used to assemble the composite structure were inspected manually for dimensional and foreign matter presence, which did not provide 100% inspection. The subject system features a web handling reel-to-reel transfer mechanism that includes an open-loop web positional alignment device to maintain the web centerline position. A machine vision system is used to optically inspect passing web materials for dimensional defects and foreign materials. This system is capable of inspection of single web woven filler material and/or colaminated woven filler material and nonconductive film. A detected defect automatically terminates web movement, generates an alarm, and records images of the defects on a media storage device. Prototype material inspections performed by the subject machine on approximately 21 567 m (70 759 ft) of material detected 174 pieces of debris.