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Glossary
Learn more about the technical terms used in the industry and necessary to understand how energy is generated in a nuclear power plant.
There are currently 12 glosarioING in this directory beginning with the letter C.
C
Capture, nuclear reaction
Nuclear reaction where the atom incorporates an external subatomic particle.
CECOP
Operations Coordination Centre set up by the government offices in autonomous communities in Spain; it coordinates all the actions envisaged in the Nuclear Emergency Plans.
Chemical element
Substance formed by atoms with the same number of protons, although they can have a different number of neutrons. Its chemical behaviour is always the same, irrespective of its isotopic composition. (See "Enrichment".)
Cladding
A fuel element that hermetically encloses the nuclear fuel preventing the fission products from escaping and guaranteeing mechanical strength to ensure the fuel's integrity.
Collective dose
The effective dose a certain group of people have been exposed to. It is measured in person-sieverts (p-Sv).
Committed collective dose
Committed dose that will be received by a certain group of individuals during a 50-year period. It is measured in person-sieverts (p-Sv).
Committed dose
The effective dose that a person will receive during the next 50 years (70 years for children) as a result of the amount of radioactive material intake into their organism. It is measured in sieverts (Sv).
Container
A container designed to hold spent fuel or radioactive material in order to facilitate its transport or storage.
Containment
Structure used to house nuclear or radioactive facilities in order to reduce the possibility of environmental contamination. In nuclear power plants, the containment structure consists of a steel plate cladding and a 90 cm thick concrete wall, and it houses the reactor and the primary circuit.
Control rod
A rod-shaped element used to control the reactivity of a nuclear reactor. Inserting the control rods into the reactor's core leads to the cessation of the nuclear chain reaction.
Controlled area
According to legislation, an area where, owing to the existence of a source of ionising radiation, it is possible to receive more than 3/10 of the annual dose limits established for professionally exposed workers. Established within the controlled area are the limited presence area, when there is a risk of exceeding the annual dose limits, and the prohibited access area, when there is a risk of exceeding in one single exposure the annual dose limits.