radioactive waste

noun

1. the radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel.

radioactive waste

noun

1. any waste material containing radionuclides Also callednuclear waste

radioactive waste

1. 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

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of radioactive waste¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Mayak, a nuclear facility, has several nuclear reactors and is a storage site for radioactive waste.

From The Daily Beast