Glossary

See also

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Access hatch
Activation
Active fuel length
Activity
Advanced reactors
Agreement State
Air sampling
Airborne radioactivity area
ALARA
Aleatory
Alkali silica reaction (ASR)
Allegation
Alpha particle
Anion
Annual limit on intake (ALI)
Anticipated transient without scram (ATWS)
Assumptions (for IPEs, IPEEs, and PRAs)
Atom
Atomic energy
Atomic Energy Commission
Atomic number
Attenuation
Auxiliary building
Auxiliary feedwater
Average planar linear heat generation rate (APLGHR)
Axial crack

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Background radiation
Base metal
Baseline Inspection Program
Bayesian estimation
Bayesian prior
Becquerel (Bq)
Beta particle
Beyond design-basis accidents
Binding energy
Bioassay
Biological half-life
Biological shield
Boiling-water reactor (BWR)
Bone seeker
Brachytherapy
Breeder
British thermal unit (Btu)
Butt weld
Byproduct
Byproduct material

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Calibration
Call
Canister
Capability
Capacity
Capacity charge
Capacity factor
Capacity factor (gross)
Capacity factor (net)
Capacity utilization
Cask
Categories of fuel facilities
Category of radioactive sources
Cation
Chain reaction
Charged particle
Chemical recombination
Circumferential crack
Cladding
Classified information
Cleanup system
Coastdown
Cold shutdown
Collective dose
Combined license (COL)
Commercial Irradiator
Commercial sector (energy users)
Committed dose equivalent (CDE)
Committed effective dose equivalent (CEDE)
Compact
Compound
Condensate
Condenser
Configuration management
Construction recapture
Containment building
Containment structure
Contamination
Control rod
Control room
Controlled area
Coolant
Cooldown
Cooling tower
Core
Core damage frequency
Core melt accident
Cornerstone of Safety
Corrective Action Program
Cosmic radiation
Counter
Crack coalescence
Crack growth
Crack initiation
Critical mass
Critical organ
Critical ratio
Criticality
Cross-cutting Area
Crud
Cumulative dose
Curie (Ci)

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Daughter products
Decay heat
Decay, radioactive
Declared pregnant woman
Decommissioning
DECON
Decontamination
Deep-Dose Equivalent (DDE)
Defense in depth
Departure from nucleate boiling ratio (DNBR)
Departure from nucleate boiling (DNB)
Depleted uranium
Derived air concentration (DAC)
Derived Air Concentration-Hour (DAC-hour)
Design certification
Design-basis accident
Design-basis phenomena
Design-basis threat (DBT)
Detector
Deterministic (probabilistic)
Deterministic effect
Deuterium
Deuteron
Differential pressure (dp or dP)
Doppler coefficient
Dose
Dose equivalent
Dose rate
Dose, absorbed
Dosimeter
Dosimetry
Drop-In Meetings
Dry cask storage
Drywell

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Early site permit (ESP)
Earthquake, operating basis
Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR)
Effective Dose Equivalent
Effective half-life
Efficiency, plant
Electric power grid
Electric utility
Electrical generator
Electromagnetic radiation
Electron
Element
Emergency classifications
Emergency core cooling systems (ECCS)
Emergency feedwater
Emergency Notification System
Emergency preparedness (EP)
Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Enrichment
ENTOMB
Environmental qualification
Epistemic
Event Notification System
Event tree
Exclusion area
Excursion
Exposure
External radiation
Extremities

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Fast fission
Fast neutron
Fatigue
Fault tree
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Feedwater
Fertile material
Film badge
Fiscal year (FY)
Fissile material
Fission (fissioning)
Fission gases
Fission products
Fissionable material
Flux
Force-on-Force (FOF)
Foreign Assignee Program
Formula quantity
Fracture mechanics
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Fuel assembly (fuel bundle, fuel element)
Fuel cycle
Fuel reprocessing (recycling)
Fuel rod
Fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity
Full-time equivalent (FTE)
Fusion reaction

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Gamma radiation
Gap
Gas centrifuge
Gas chromatography
Gas-cooled reactor
Gaseous diffusion
Gaseous diffusion plant
Gases
Gauging devices
Geiger-Mueller counter
Generation (gross)
Generation (net)
Generator capacity
Generator nameplate capacity
Geological repository
Gigawatt (GW)
Gigawatthour (GWh)
Graphite
Gray (Gy)
Grid

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Half-life
Half-life (radiological)
Half-life, biological
Half-life, effective
Half-thickness
Head, reactor vessel
Health physics
Heap leach
Heat exchanger
Heat sink
Heatup
Heavy water (D2O)
Heavy water moderated reactor
High radiation area
High-enriched uranium
High-level radioactive waste (HLW)
High-level waste
Highly (or High-) enriched uranium
Hot
Hot spot

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Idealized surface crack
Idealized through-wall crack
IMPEP
In situ leach
In situ recovery (ISR)
In vitro
In vivo
Incident response (IR)
Independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI)
Indicator function
Individual plant examination (IPE)
Individual plant examination for external events (IPEEE)
Induced radioactivity
Inspection Reports
Integrated plant evaluation
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA)
Iodine spiking factor
Ion
Ion-exchange
Ionization
Ionization chamber
Ionizing radiation
Irradiation
Isotope
Isotope separation
Isotopic enrichment

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[no terms for this letter]

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Kilo-
Kilovolt
Kilowatt (KW)
Kinetic energy

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Latent cancer fatality (LCF)
Leak before break
Lens Dose Equivalent
Lethal dose (LD)
Licensed material
Licensee
Licensing basis
Licensing Support Network (LSN) Library
Light water
Light water reactor
Limit load
Limiting condition for operation
Limiting safety system settings
Linear heat generation rate
Lixiviant
Loop
Loss of coolant accident (LOCA)
Low population zone (LPZ)
Low-level radioactive waste (LLW)
Low-level waste

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Mass number
Mass-energy equation
Maximum dependable capacity (gross)
Maximum dependable capacity (net)
Mega-
Megacurie
Megawatt (MW)
Megawatthour (MWh)
Metric ton
Micro-
Microcurie
Mill tailings
Milli-
Millirem
Milliroentgen (mR)
Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel
Model
Moderator
Moderator temperature coefficient of reactivity
Module
Molecule
Monitoring of radiation

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Nano-
Nanocurie
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
National Response Framework (NRF)
National Source Tracking System (NSTS)
Natural circulation
Natural uranium
Net electric generation
Net summer capacity
Neutron
Neutron capture
Neutron chain reaction
Neutron flux
Neutron generation
Neutron leakage
Neutron source
Neutron, thermal
Noble gas
Non-stochastic effect
Non-vital plant systems
Nonpower reactor
Nonpower reactor (research and test reactor)
Not Applicable (NA)
Not Reported (NR)
Nozzle
NRC Operations Center
NSTS
Nuclear energy
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
Nuclear force
Nuclear fuel
Nuclear Material Management and Safeguards System (NMMSS)
Nuclear materials
Nuclear poison (or neutron poison)
Nuclear power plant
Nuclear Radiological Incident Annex
Nuclear reactor
Nuclear steam supply system
Nuclear waste
Nucleon
Nucleus
Nuclide

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Occupational Dose
Operable
Operational mode
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Orphan sources (unwanted radioactive material)
Outage
Outage (forced)
Outage (full forced)
Outage (scheduled)

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Parent
Parts per million (ppm)
Pellet, fuel
Performance indicator
Performance-based regulation
Performance-based regulatory action
Periodic table
Personnel monitoring
Photon
Pico-
Picocurie
Pig
Pile
Piping
Planned special exposure
Plausible accidents
Plutonium (Pu)
Pocket dosimeter
Poison, neutron
Pool reactor
Positron
Possession-only license
Power coefficient of reactivity
Power defect
Power reactor
Power uprate
PRA acceptability
Preliminary Notification (PN)
Pressure vessel
Pressurized-water reactor (PWR)
Pressurizer
Primary system
Primary water stress-corrosion cracking (PWSCC)
Probability distribution
Probabilistic risk analysis
Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA)
Production expense
Proportional counter
Proprietary information
Proton
Public Dose

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Quality factor
Quantum theory

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Rad (radiation absorbed dose)
Radiation (ionizing radiation)
Radiation area
Radiation detection instrument
Radiation shielding
Radiation sickness (syndrome)
Radiation source
Radiation standards
Radiation therapy (radiotherapy)
Radiation warning symbol
Radiation, ionizing
Radiation, nuclear
Radioactive contamination
Radioactive decay
Radioactive series
Radioactivity
Radiography
Radioisotope (Radionuclide)
Radiological sabotage
Radiological survey
Radiology
Radionuclide
Radiopharmaceutical
Radiosensitivity
Radium (Ra)
Radon (Rn)
Reaction
Reactive Inspection
Reactivity
Reactor coolant system
Reactor core
Reactor Oversight Process (ROP)
Reactor, nuclear
Realization
Reasonable
Reference man
Reflector
Refueling
Refueling BWR
Refueling PWR
Regulation
Regulatory Conference
Regulatory Information Conference
Rem
Renewable resources
Resident Inspector
Restricted area
Risk
Risk-based decisionmaking
Risk-informed decisionmaking
Risk-informed regulation
Risk-significant
Roentgen (R)
Rubblization
Rupture

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Safe shutdown earthquake
Safeguards
Safeguards information (SGI)
Safety Conscious Work Environment
Safety injection
Safety limit
Safety-related
Safety-significant
SAFSTOR
Scattered radiation
Scintillation detector
Scram
Sealed source
Secondary radiation
Secondary system
Seismic category I
Sensitive unclassified nonsafeguards information (SUNSI)
Severe accident
Shallow-Dose Equivalent (SDE)
Shielding
Shutdown
Shutdown margin
Sievert (Sv)
Significance Determination Process
Somatic effects of radiation
Source material
Source term
Special nuclear material
Spent (depleted or used) nuclear fuel
Spent fuel pool
Spent nuclear fuel
Stable isotope
Standard Review Plan
Standard Technical Specifications
Startup
Stay time
Steam generator
Stochastic effects
Stress-intensity factor
Subcritical mass
Subcriticality
Supercritical reactor
Supercriticality
Superheating
Surface crack
Survey meter

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Technical Specifications
Teletherapy
Terrestrial radiation
Thermal breeder reactor
Thermal power
Thermal reactor
Thermal shield
Thermalization
Thermoluminescent dosimeter
Thermonuclear
Through-wall crack
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR)
Top event
Total Effective Dose Equivalent (TEDE)
Transient
Transitioning crack
Transuranic element
Transuranic waste
Trip, reactor
Tritium
Turbine
Turbine generator (TG)

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U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Ultraviolet
Uncertainty
Uncertainty range
Unnecessary regulatory burden
Unrestricted area
Unstable isotope
Unwanted Radioactive Material (Orphan Sources)
Uprate
Uranium
Uranium enrichment
Uranium fuel fabrication facility
Uranium hexafluoride production facility (or uranium conversion facility)

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Vapor
Very high radiation area
Viability assessment
Void
Void coefficient of reactivity

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Waste classification (classes of waste)
Waste, radioactive
Watt
Watthour
Weighting factor (WT)
Well-logging
Wheeling service
Whole-body counter
Whole-body exposure
Wipe sample

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X-rays

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Yellowcake

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Zirconium

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Wednesday, July 24, 2024