radioactive waste
noun
the radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel.
Also called
nuclear waste.
Origin of radioactive waste
First recorded in 1945–50
Words nearby radioactive waste
British Dictionary definitions for radioactive waste
radioactive waste
noun
any waste material containing radionuclides
Also called: nuclear waste
Cultural definitions for radioactive waste
radioactive waste
Radioactive materials that may be left after a commercial or laboratory process has been carried out. Some is “low-level” waste, such as objects that have touched the radioactive tracers used in certain medical tests. Other waste may be “high-level,” such as the material left in a nuclear reactor after the fuel has been consumed.
notes for radioactive waste
There has been public debate over the safest means of storing the waste, which can remain dangerously radioactive for up to hundreds of thousands of years. Present practice calls for encasing the waste in metal, concrete, and ceramic containers and burying the containers deep underground in geologically stable locations.