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A reactor that produces more nuclear fuel than it consumes. A fertile material, such as uranium-238, when bombarded by neutrons, is transformed into a fissile material, such as plutonium-239, which can be used as fuel.
Industry:Energy
A nuclear medicine procedure during which a sealed radioactive source is implanted directly into a person being treated for cancer (usually of the mouth, breast, lung, prostate, ovaries, or uterus). The radioactive implant may be temporary or permanent, and the radiation attacks the tumor as long as the device remains in place. Brachytherapy uses radioisotopes, such as iridium-192 or iodine-125, which are regulated by the NRC and its Agreement States. For additional information, see Brachytherapy.
Industry:Energy
A radioisotope that tends to accumulate in the bones when it is introduced into the body. An example is strontium-90, which behaves chemically like calcium.
Industry:Energy
A common nuclear power reactor design in which water flows upward through the core, where it is heated by fission and allowed to boil in the reactor vessel. The resulting steam then drives turbines, which activate generators to produce electrical power. BWRs operate similarly to electrical plants using fossil fuel, except that the BWRs are powered by 370–800 nuclear fuel assemblies in the reactor core.
Industry:Energy
A mass of absorbing material placed around a reactor or radioactive source to reduce the radiation to a level safe for humans.
Industry:Energy
The time required for a biological system, such as that of a human, to eliminate, by natural processes, half of the amount of a substance (such as a radioactive material) that has entered it.
Industry:Energy
The determination of kinds, quantities, or concentrations and, in some cases, locations of radioactive material in the human body, whether by direct measurement (in vivo counting) or by analysis and evaluation of materials excreted or removed (in vitro) from the human body.
Industry:Energy
The minimum energy required to separate the nucleus of an atom into its component neutrons and protons.
Industry:Energy
This term is used as a technical way to discuss accident sequences that are possible but were not fully considered in the design process because they were judged to be too unlikely. (In that sense, they are considered beyond the scope of design-basis accidents that a nuclear facility must be designed and built to withstand. ) As the regulatory process strives to be as thorough as possible, "beyond design-basis" accident sequences are analyzed to fully understand the capability of a design.
Industry:Energy
A charged particle (with a mass equal to 1/1837 that of a proton) that is emitted from the nucleus of a radioactive element during radioactive decay (or disintegration) of an unstable atom. A negatively charged beta particle is identical to an electron, while a positively charged beta particle is called a positron. Large amounts of beta radiation may cause skin burns, and beta emitters are harmful if they enter the body. Beta particles may be stopped by thin sheets of metal or plastic.
Industry:Energy
