BWR - Nuclear Power Plants Boiling Water Reactor
curie - a unit of radioactivity equal to 3.7 × 1010 disintegrations per second
fission - The splitting apart of atoms. This splitting releases large amounts of energy and one or more neutrons. Nuclear power plants split the nuclei of Uranium atoms in a process called fission.
fusion
- When the nuclei of atoms are combined or fused together. The sun combines the nuclei of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms in a process called fusion. Energy from the nuclei of atoms, called nuclear energy is released from fusion.
film badge - a small pack of sensitive photographic film worn as a badge for indicating exposure to radiation
Geiger counter - an instrument for detecting the presence and intensity of radiations (as cosmic rays or particles from a radioactive substance) by means of their ionizing effect on an enclosed gas which results in a pulse that is amplified and fed to a device giving a visible or audible indication
isotope - any of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and nearly identical chemical behavior but with differing atomic mass or mass number and different physical properties
millirem - one thousandth of a rem
nuclide - a species of atom characterized by the constitution of its nucleus and hence by the number of protons, the number of neutrons, and the energy content
PWR - Nuclear Power Plants Pressurized Water Reactor
Rad - a unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation equal to an energy of 100 ergs per gram of irradiated material
radiation - the process of emitting radiant energy in the form of waves or particles
rem - lthe dosage of an ionizing radiation that will cause the same biological effect as one roentgen of X-ray or gamma-ray exposure
roentgen - of or relating to X-rays
Uranium 235 - a light isotope of uranium of mass number 235 that constitutes less than one percent of natural uranium, that when bombarded with slow neutrons undergoes rapid fission into smaller atoms with the release of neutrons and energy, and that is used in nuclear reactors and atomic bombs
Uranium 238 - an isotope of uranium of mass number 238 that is the most stable uranium isotope, that constitutes over 99 percent of natural uranium, that is not fissile but can be used to produce a fissile isotope of plutonium, and that has a half-life of 4.5 billion years