radioactive waste

See synonyms for radioactive waste on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

Origin of radioactive waste

First recorded in 1945–50

Also called nuclear waste.

Words Nearby radioactive waste

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use radioactive waste in a sentence

Just ask the scientists tasked with warning civilizations thousands of years in the future, which may not understand any of the world’s current languages, about radioactive waste that will still pose a threat in their time.
Apple TV+’s Beautiful, Frustrating Foundation Is the Latest Example of the Problem With Genre TV | Judy Berman | September 24, 2021 | Time
On top of that, the process doesn’t create any long-lived radioactive waste, unlike conventional nuclear power plants.
The Race for Fusion Power Heats Up as Multiple Projects Hit New Milestones | Edd Gent | September 20, 2021 | Singularity Hub
Very little indicates it’s the final resting place for radioactive waste.
Once the Uranium Capital of the World, Moab, Utah, wants to unload its radioactive legacy | Sarah Scoles | September 9, 2021 | Popular-Science
Mayak, a nuclear facility, has several nuclear reactors and is a storage site for radioactive waste.
Fire in the Sky! The Russian Meteor’s Aftermath | Anna Nemtsova | February 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for radioactive waste

radioactive waste

noun

any waste material containing radionuclides: Also called: nuclear waste

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Browse