GC: n
CT: Apart from over 200 nuclear reactors powering various kinds of ships, Rosatom in Russia has set up a subsidiary to supply floating nuclear power plants ranging in size from 70 to 600 MWe. These will be mounted in pairs on a large barge, which will be permanently moored where it is needed to supply power and possibly some desalination to a shore settlement or industrial complex. The first has two 40 MWe reactors based on those in icebreakers and will operate at a remote site in Siberia. Electricity cost is expected to be much lower than from present alternatives.
S: WNA – http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Power-Reactors/Nuclear-Power-Reactors/ (last access: 18 December 2015)
N: 1. nuclear (adj): 1841, “of or like the nucleus of a cell,” from nucleus + –ar, probably by influence of French nucléaire. Use in atomic physics is from 1914; of weapons, from 1945. Hence nuclear physics (1933), nuclear energy (1941), nuclear war (1954). Nuclear winter coined by Richard Turco, but first attested in article by Carl Sagan in “Parade” magazine, Oct. 30, 1983. General sense of “central” is from 1912. Nuclear family, originally a sociologists’ term, is first attested 1949 in “Social Structure,” by American anthropologist G.P. Murdock (1897-1985). Alternative adjective nucleal is recorded from 1840.
power (n): c. 1300, “ability; ability to act or do; strength, vigor, might,” especially in battle; “efficacy; control, mastery, lordship, dominion; legal power or authority; authorization; military force, an army,” from Anglo-French pouair, Old French povoir, noun use of the infinitive, “to be able,” earlier podir (9c.), from Vulgar Latin potere, from Latin potis “powerful”.
plant (n): Old English plante “young tree or shrub, herb newly planted,” from Latin planta “sprout, shoot, cutting” (source of Spanish planta, French plante), perhaps from plantare “to drive in with the feet, push into the ground with the feet,” from planta “sole of the foot,” from nasalized form of PIE plat- “to spread, flat”.
2. A nuclear power plant is a facility for the production of electricity using nuclear energy.
3. Nuclear power plants are fueled by uranium, which emits radioactive substances. Most of these substances are trapped in uranium fuel pellets or in sealed metal fuel rods. However, small amounts of these radioactive substances (mostly gases) become mixed with the water that is used to cool the reactor. Other impurities in the water are also made radioactive as they pass through the reactor. The water that passes through a reactor is processed and filtered to remove these radioactive impurities before being returned to the environment. Nonetheless, minute quantities of radioactive gases and liquids are ultimately released to the environment under controlled and monitored conditions.
4. nuclear power plant; nuclear power station: terms and definition standardized by ISO in 1997.
5. Cultural Interrelation:
- Fiction: “The China syndrome” (1979), a movie directed by James Bridges.
- Reality: Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom. Power reactors operating in the UK (see link below).
S: 1. OED – http://goo.gl/CRnuri, http://goo.gl/d3H50l and http://goo.gl/CTQDio (last access: 18 December 2015). 2. Nuclearenergy.net – http://nuclear-energy.net/definitions/nuclear-power-plant.html (last access: 18 December 2015). 3. USNRC – http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/around-us/uses-radiation.html#npp (last access: 18 December 2015). 4. TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/Y7uENW (last access: 18 December 2015). 5. Filmaffinity.com – http://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film791779.html (last access: 18 December 2015); http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-T-Z/United-Kingdom/ (last access: 18 December 2015).
SYN: 1. NGS, nuclear generating station, nuclear power plant. 2. nuclear power station, nuclear plant, nuclear station.
S: 1. TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/Y7uENW (last access: 18 December 2015). 2. GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=8358276 (last access: 18 December 2015); TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/Y7uENW (last access: 18 December 2015).
