cesium 137

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. the radioactive cesium isotope with mass number 137 and a half-life of 33 years: used for gamma irradiation of certain foods and for radiation therapy.

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Example Sentences

Subsequent explosions and fire spewed 15,000 terabecquerels of radioactive cesium 137 alone, enough so that officials created an "exclusion zone" of 20 kilometers around the plant that persists today.

From Scientific American • Mar. 9, 2012

The breached reactor would then spew "16 percent of the core inventory"—"inventory" meaning cesium 137, along with 68 other radioactive isotopes in the hot nuclear fuel.

From Scientific American • Mar. 9, 2012

The oceanic study estimates 27,000 terabecquerels of radioactive cesium 137 leaked into the sea from the Fukushima plant, north of Tokyo.

From BusinessWeek • Oct. 31, 2011

It, too, is relatively basic, but it showed a patch of bright yellow right over her village of Shidamyo, an indicator of high levels of the radioactive isotopes cesium 134 and cesium 137.

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2011

In a reactor, many of the uranium 235 nuclei split apart, transforming into radioactive isotopes such as iodine 131 and cesium 137.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland