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Nuclear Energy pp 395–410Cite as

Applications of Radioisotopes

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  • First Online:
  • Originally published in
  • R. A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, © Springer Science+Business Media LLC 2017

Glossary

Background radiation:

The radiation given off by natural radioisotopes and cosmic sources.

Detection limits:

The smallest amount of radiation which can be discriminated from background radiation.

Dirty bomb:

A conventional chemical bomb laced with radioactivity intended to cause mass panic and commercial havoc.

Ionizing:

The result of adding or removing charge from a neutral atom.

IND:

Improvised nuclear device, an attempt at a nuclear weapon generally assumed to be made by a terrorist organization.

Isotope:

An element may have different numbers of neutrons in a given atom, but the element is defined by the number of protons in the nucleus. The different isotopes of an element will all have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

NORM:

Naturally occurring radioactive material, radioisotopes.

Nucleus:

The center of an atom containing all the neutrons and protons which constitute the overwhelming majority of the atom’s mass.

Nuclide:

A commonly used term...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2500 Stinson Drive, 3140 Burlington Engineering Labs, 27695-7909, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Robert Bruce Hayes

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  1. Robert Bruce Hayes
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Correspondence to Robert Bruce Hayes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA

    Nicholas Tsoulfanidis

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Hayes, R.B. (2018). Applications of Radioisotopes. In: Tsoulfanidis, N. (eds) Nuclear Energy. Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6618-9_952

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