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 Multilingual
Dictionary of Nuclear
Reactor Physics and
Engineering
 Multilingual
Dictionary of Nuclear
Reactor Physics and
Engineering

Henryk Anglart
First edition published 2021
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

and by CRC Press

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and pub­
lisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use.
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Anglart, Henryk, author.

Title: Multilingual dictionary of nuclear reactor physics and engineering /
Henryk Anglart.
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2020. | Includes
index. | In English, with French, German, Swedish, and Polish
translations.
Identifers: LCCN 2020010210 | ISBN 9780367470814 (hardback) | ISBN
9781003037019 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Nuclear reactors--Dictionaries--Polyglot. | Nuclear
physics--Dictionaries--Polyglot. | Nuclear
engineering--Dictionaries--Polyglot.
Classifcation: LCC TK9202 .A56 2020 | DDC 621.48/303--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020010210

ISBN: 978-0-367-47081-4 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-03701-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Computer Modern font

by Cenveo Publisher Services
 To my Family
Ewa, Dorota, and Marcin
Preface

The purpose of this dictionary is to provide concise, reliable, and useful defi­
nitions of terms used in modern nuclear reactor physics and engineering. The
conciseness has been achieved by a simplification and compression of defini­
tions, consisting usually of one, or a few, semicolon-separated clauses. For high
reliability, many credible sources of information have been used, such as peer-
reviewed multilingual technical dictionaries, books, and journal papers. The
terms have been selected with their practical usefulness in mind, assuming
that users are students, researchers, or practitioners of nuclear reactor physics
and engineering or a related discipline.
Even though the dictionary is intentionally kept compact, every effort was
made to help the user to easily grasp all the information contained in an entry.
The main entries, which contain all explanatory text and relevant references,
are well spaced and begin with a single headword or head expression printed
in a bold text. The headword is followed by an abbreviation of the sub-domain
in nuclear engineering to which the headword belongs. The definition part of
the main entry begins after a bullet symbol (•) and is followed by an arrow
symbol (→). The arrow indicates additional related headwords separated by
semicolons, which are suggested for further reading. Equivalents of the head­
word in other languages (German, French, Polish, and Swedish) are provided
at the end of the entry.
The dictionary can be used for various purposes, such as searching for ex­
planations of new terms, and translating the terms into other languages; how­
ever, it is also a helpful reference tool for all its users. The section “Guide to the
Dictionary” outlines the principles upon which each aspect of the dictionary
has been planned. A list of the most commonly used technical abbreviations
is contained in the section “Abbreviations”. Most of the listed abbreviations
are further explained in the dictionary, and the corresponding page number is
provided.
The dictionary contains approximately 1500 English terms, with their
equivalents in four additional languages. A dictionary of this scope, besides the
author, owes much to many people, who, over the past half-century or so, have
developed the new and fascinating discipline of nuclear engineering, and who
have done the hard work to develop the definitions and the vocabulary used in
this book. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the resources provided
by Sweden’s National Term Bank (Rikstermbanken, www.rikstermbanken.se)
for the Swedish terms and their German and French equivalents, the English­

vii
viii • Preface

Polish Dictionary of Science and Technology for the Polish translations, and
the IAEA Safety Glossary for the modern definitions of terms used in nuclear
power safety. The feedback and support from many people, in particular stu­
dents and faculties at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Warsaw
University of Technology, as well as the staff at Taylor & Francis, helped me
to finalize this dictionary, and I am very grateful to all of them.

Stockholm
January 2020
Henryk Anglart
Guide to the Dictionary

The dictionary can be used in multiple ways, depending on a particular need

of the user. The most straightforward usage is to search a meaning of an
English term or expression. The English terms have been arranged in a strictly
alphabetic order, that follows the letter-by- letter system. If a term has one or
more synonyms, all synonyms are listed in a note given within round brackets
and placed at the beginning of the body text (see section “The Main Entry”
for a detailed description of the entry structure). The synonyms are listed in
the dictionary as separate entries, but contain a cross-reference to the main
entry only. In that way, an explanation for all terms occurs only once, but it
can be easily located in the dictionary through any of the known synonyms.
Another usage of the dictionary can be to search an equivalent of an
English term in any of the following languages: German, French, Polish, or
Swedish. These multilingual equivalents are provided at the end of the entry,
following the cross-references to related entries. When a term of interest is
known in any of the above-mentioned languages, the English equivalent can
be found in the corresponding language index. In that way, the full description
of the term, and also other language equivalents, can be accessed.

THE MAIN ENTRY

The example below shows the main entry for the headword condensation
pool. The headword belongs to sub-domain “reactor components and sys­
tems”, as indicated by the abbreviation rcs. The list of abbreviations for all
sub-domains included in the dictionary is given in section “Abbreviations of
Sub-Domains”.
The body text that follows the headword can be preceded by text in paren­
theses, ended with a colon, and called a “note”. The purpose of the note is to
provide some auxiliary information about the headword such as a limitation
of the application, synonymous expressions, a typical notation used in rela­
tion to the headword, and similar. The headword is frequently repeated in
the body text, and to limit the space usage, only the headword’s initials, for
better visibility printed in italics, are used. Cross-references to related entries
are placed after the body text and are preceded by a symbol → for better
visibility.
Headwords that have identical spellings but different meanings or different
multilingual equivalents are inserted separately and numbered with an upper

ix
x • Guide to the Dictionary

headword sub-domain

note

synonym synonym

body text
headword’s
initials
cross-
cross-reference reference
multilingual symbol
equivalents

index, for example enrichment1 and enrichment2 . For headwords with dif­
ferent meanings but identical spellings in all languages, a single entry is used
with Arabic numerals 1., 2., etc.
Some entries contain sub-headwords, which for better visibility are printed
in italics. The sub-headwords are alphabetically listed in the dictionary to­
gether with all other headwords. For example, the entry enrichment1 nf
• 1. . . . enrichment techniques . . . contains a sub-headword enrichment tech­
niques, and this phrase is separately listed in the dictionary as enrichment
techniques →enrichment1 . In this way, the reader searching for “enrichment
techniques” will be re-directed to the headword enrichment1 .

THE CROSS-REFERENCE ENTRY

The cross-reference entry contains a cross-reference only and is used to facili­
tate the finding of the relevant main entry. This feature is particularly useful
to resolve the following situations:

• to identify a symbol or an abbreviation, e.g., A →mass number,

• to define a synonym, e.g., bulk boiling →saturated boiling,

• to provide a reference to the main entry that contains the explanation

of the headword, e.g., actual quality →steam quality.
 Guide to the Dictionary • xi

ABBREVIATIONS OF SUB-DOMAINS
bph basic physics
gnt general nuclear technology
mat materials and material properties
mt measuring technique
mth mathematics
nap nuclear and atomic processes
nch nuclear chemistry
nf nuclear fuel
rcs reactor components and systems
rd radiation
rdp radiation protection
rdy radioactivity
roc reactor operation and control
rph reactor physics
rs reactor safety
rty reactor type
sfg safeguards (of nuclear material)
th thermal engineering
wst waste
xr cross sections and resonances

ABBREVIATIONS OF LANGUAGES
D German
E English
F French
(GB) British English
Pl Polish
Sv Swedish
(US) American English

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

d day
g terrestrial acceleration
h hour
ky thousand years
L liter
m month
My million years
pl plural
y year
→ see related headwords
Abbreviations

Some commonly used abbreviations in nuclear reactor physics and engineering

are listed below. For abbreviations that are further addressed in the dictio­
nary, the corresponding page numbers are provided.

ABWR Advanced Boiling Water Reactor

ACR Advanced CANDU Reactor (p. 4)
ADS Accelerator Driven System (p. 3)
ADS Automatic Depressurization System
AECL Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
AGR Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (p. 5)
ALARA As Low as Reasonably Achievable (p. 6)
AOA Axial Offset Anomaly (p. 38)
AOO Anticipated Operational Occurrence
ASN Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (nuclear regulatory
authority in France)
ATWS Anticipated Transient Without Scram (p. 8)
BA Burnable Absorber (p. 21)
BOC Beginning of Cycle (p. 14)
BR Breeding Ratio (p. 20)
BWR Boiling Water Reactor (p. 17)
CANDU CANada Deuterium Uranium (reactor) (p. 23)
CHF Critical Heat Flux (p. 36)
CIM Conductivity Integral to Melt (p. 164)
CIPS Crud Induced Power Shift (p. 38)
CPR Critical Power Ratio (p. 37)
CR Conversion Ratio (p. 33)
CRUD Chalk River Unidentified Deposit (p. 38)
CVCS Chemical and Volume Control System (p. 26)
DBA Design Basis Accident (p. 43)
DBE Design Basis Earthquake (p. 43)
DNB Departure from Nucleate Boiling (p. 42)
DNBR Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio (p. 42)
EAL Emergency Action Level (p. 139)
ECCS Emergency Core Cooling System (p. 53)
EFPH Effective Full Power Hours (p. 51)
ENDF Evaluated Nuclear Data File
ENSREG European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group

xiii
xiv • Abbreviations

EOC End of Cycle (p. 54)

EPR European Pressurized water Reactor (p. 56)
EPZ Emergency Planning Zone (p. 54)
ESBWR Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
FBR Fast Breeder Reactor
FIFA Fissions per Initial Fissile Atom (p. 61)
FIMA Fissions per Initial Metal Atom (p. 61)
FSAR Final Safety Analysis Report (p. 145)
GCFR Gas-Cooled Fast Breeder Reactor
GCR Gas-Cooled Reactor (p. 69)
GDCS Gravity-Driven Cooling System
GFR Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (p. 69)
HEU Highly Enriched Uranium (p. 75)
HTGR High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (p. 75)
HTR High Temperature Reactor
HVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
IASC Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion (p. 84)
IASCC Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking
ICFM In-Core Fuel Management (p. 79)
ICRP International Commission on Radiological Protection (p. 83)
IGSCC Intergrannular Stress Corrosion Cracking (p. 82)
INES International Nuclear Event Scale (p. 83)
KMP Key Measurement Point (p. 89)
LEU Low Enriched Uranium (p. 94)
LFR Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (p. 92)
LOCA Loss of Coolant Accident (p. 94)
LPRM Local Power Range Monitor (p. 94)
LWR Light Water Reactor (p. 92)
MBA Material Balance Area (p. 98)
MBP Material Balance Period (p. 98)
MCA Maximum Credible Accident (p. 99)
MEU Medium Enriched Uranium (p. 100)
MSR Molten Salt Reactor (p. 104)
MUF Material Unaccounted For (p. 99)
NEA Nuclear Energy Agency
NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission
NSSS Nuclear Steam Supply System (p. 115)
OBE Operating Basis Earthquake (p. 117)
ONR Office for Nuclear Regulation
PAA Polska Agencja Atomistyki (Polish National Atomic
Energy Agency)
PCCS Passive Containment Cooling System
PCI Pellet-Clad Interaction (p. 120)
PHWR Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (p. 121)
PIUS Process Inherent Ultimate Safety
PRA Probabilistic Risk Analysis (p. 125)
 Abbreviations • xv

PRM Power Range Monitor (p. 123)

PSAProbabilistic Safety Analysis (p. 125)
PSAR Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (p. 145)
PWR Pressurized Water Reactor (p. 125)
RIAReactivity-Induced Accident (p. 136)
RIPRecirculation Internal Pump (p. 139)
RPV Reactor Pressure Vessel (p. 138)
SAR Safety Analysis Report (p. 145)
SBWR Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
SCWR Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor (p. 160)
SFRSodium-cooled Fast Reactor (p. 153)
SSESafe Shutdown Earthquake (p. 145)
SSM Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten (Swedish Radiation Safety
Authority)
TIP Travelling In-core Probe (p. 169)
USNRC U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
VHTR Very-High-Temperature Reactor (p. 173)
VFR Volume Reduction Factor (p. 174)
WANO World Association of Nuclear Operators
WNA World Nuclear Association
WNU World Nuclear University
Numerical Terms
1/v-detector mt • neutron detector
in which the employed nuclear cross
section is inversely proportional to the
neutron speed (it follows the 1/v law)
→ 1/v law D 1/v-Detektor F détecteur en
1/v Pl detektor 1/v Sv 1/v-detektor
1/v law xr • the statement that a cer­
tain neutron cross section is inversely
proportional to the neutron velocity
relative to the nucleus → 1/v-detector
D 1/v-Gesetz F loi en 1/v Pl prawo 1/v Sv
1/v-lagen
2200-meter-per-second flux den­
sity →conventional flux density
1
Aa

A →mass number gamma radiation D Absorption F absorp­

absolute temperature th • (also tion Pl absorpcja; pochłanianie Sv absorp­
called thermodynamic temperature:) tion
temperature measured from absolute absorption control roc • reac­
zero and expressed in kelvins → kelvin tor control through absorbers, whose
D absolute Temperatur F température ther­ properties, locations or amounts are
modynamique Pl temperatura absolutna Sv changing → reactor control2 ; absorber D
absolut temperatur Steuerung durch Absorption F commande
absorbed dose rdp • measure of radi­ par absorption Pl sterowanie absorbentem
ation energy absorbed by matter de­ Sv absorbatorstyrning
fined as abundance ratio nf • ratio of the
Δ¯
� number of atoms of two different iso­
D ≡ lim
Δm→0 Δm topes of an element in a given sam­
ple → isotope; isotopic abundance; isotope
where Δ¯ � is the mean energy im­
separation D Isotopenhäufigkeitsverhältnis
parted by ionizing radiation to mat­
F rapport des teneurs (isotopiques) Pl sto­
ter in a volume element and Δm is
sunek zawartości izotopów Sv isotopkvot
the mass of matter in that volume el­
ement; the concept of a.d. is useful in Ac →actinium
radiation protection since energy im­ accelerator-driven system rty •
parted per unit mass is closely cor­ (previously referred to as energy am­
related with radiation hazard; tradi­ plifier, abbreviated ADS:) sub-critical
tional unit of a.d. was the rad, which nuclear fission reactor in which an
is presently replaced with the stan­ accelerator is used to provide high-
dard SI unit gray (Gy) → radiation pro­ energy protons to bombard a heavy-
tection; kerma; rad; gray2 D Energiedosis F metal target, such as lead, and to gen­
dose absorbée Pl dawka pochłonięta Sv ab­ erate twenty to thirty neutrons per
sorberad dos event through spallation; a.-d.s. does
absorber nap • substance absorbing not rely on delayed neutrons for the
the energy of radiation → absorption; control → subcritical; accelerator; spalla­
neutron absorption; burnable absorber D tion D - F - Pl system zasilany akcelera­
Absorber; Absorptionsmittel F absorbeur Pl torem Sv acceleratordrivet system
absorbent Sv absorbator accident rs • any unintended event,
absorption nap • interception of ra­ including operating errors, equipment
diant energy or sound waves → neutron failures and other mishaps, the con­
absorption; alpha radiation; beta radiation; sequences or potential consequences

3
accident management action level

of which are not negligible from the Energy of Canada Limited; it com­
point of protection or safety → nuclear bines features of the existing CANDU
accident; INES D Störfall F accident Pl pressurized heavy-water reactors with
awaria Sv haveri features of pressurized light-water­
accident management rs • plan­ cooled reactors; from CANDU, it
ning and performing steps to mit­ takes the heavy-water moderator,
igate consequences of an accident which gives the design an improved
in a nuclear facility → nuclear acci­ neutron economy that allows it to
dent; emergency preparedness D Störfall- burn a variety of fuels; however, it re­
Management F gestion de l’accident Pl places the heavy-water cooling loop
zarządzanie awarią Sv haverihantering with one containing conventional light
accident prevention rs • procedure water, greatly reducing costs; the
to prevent an occurrence of operation name refers to its design power in
disturbance that can lead to a core ac­ the 1000 MWe class, with the baseline
cident → core accident; nuclear accident; around 1200 MWe → CANDU; heavy
protective system D Störfall-Prevention water; neutron economy D ACR F ACR Pl
F prévention des accident Pl zapobieganie ACR Sv ACR
awariom Sv haveriförebyggande åtgärd actinide mat • element with atomic
accountancy sfg • (related to safe­ number Z in a range from 89 (ac­
guards of nuclear materials:) quanti­ tinium) to 103 (lawrencium) → minor
tative accounting of nuclear materials actinide; major actinide; atomic number D
according to the national and inter­ Aktinide F actinide Pl aktynowiec Sv ak­
national commitments → nuclear ma­ tinid; aktinoid
terial; safeguards (of nuclear materials) D actinium mat • radioactive chemi­
Buchführung des Kernmaterials F gestion cal element denoted Ac, with atomic
Pl bilans materiałów rozszczepialnych Sv re­ number Z=89, relative atomic mass
dovisning Ar =227.03, density 10.07 g/cm3 ,
accumulator injection sys-tem melting point 1051 ℃, boiling point
→accumulator system 3198 ℃, and crustal average abun­
accumulator system rcs • pas­ dance 5.5×10−10 mg/kg; a. gave the
sive emergency core-cooling subsys­ name to the actinide series → actinide
tem containing two or more indepen­ D Aktinium F actinium Pl aktyn Sv ak­
dent tanks containing cool borated tinium
water stored under nitrogen gas at a action level rdp • (for radiation pro­
pressure of about 1.4 to 4.1 MPa; the tection situation where a radiation
tanks are connected through check source is not under administrative
valves to the reactor cold legs or some­ control:) level of the absorbed dose
times directly to the reactor pres­ or the concentration of radioactivity,
sure vessel → emergency core cooling sys­ which, in case it is exceeded, causes
tem; passive system D Akkumulatorsystem steps against other items than the re­
F circuit des accumulateurs Pl system hy­ activity source, e.g., after an unin­
droakumulatorów Sv ackumulatorsystem tentional release of radioactive mate­
ACR rty • (acronym for Advanced rial, a decision is made that prohibits
C ANDU Reactor:) generation III+ usage of contaminated food → ab­
nuclear reactor designed by Atomic sorbed dose; radioactive material; radiation

4
activation advanced gas-cooled reactor

source D kritischer Schwellwert F niveau a given radioactive material:) ratio

d’intervention Pl poziom działania Sv åt­ of the activity of a radioactive sam­
gärdsnivå ple and the volume of the sample
activation rdy • process of creation expressed in, e.g., Bq/m3 → spe­
of artificial radioactivity of a material cific activity; becquerel; radioactivity; ra­
through bombardment with neutrons dioactive material D Aktivitätskonzentra­
→ artificial radioactivity; neutron D Ak­ tion F activité volumique Pl gęstość akty­
tivierung F activation Pl aktywacja Sv ak­ wności promieniowania Sv aktivitetstäthet;
tivering aktivitetskoncentration
activation cross section xr • cross actual quality →steam quality
section for creation of a radioactive actuation circuit roc • logic cir­
nuclide due to certain nuclear reaction cuit that initiates an automatic ac­
→ cross section; nuclide D Aktivierungs­ tion based on a signal from a nuclear
querschnitt F section efficace d’activation Pl power plant → nuclear power plant D
przekrój czynny na aktywację Sv aktiver­ Erregerkreis F circuit de commande Pl ob­
ingstvärsnitt wód uruchomiający Sv utlösningskrets; vil­
activation detector mt • radiation lkorskrets
detector whose radioactivity arising
adjoint flux rph • (also called adjoint
from activation is used to determine
of the neutron flux density:) solution
the particle fluence or particle flux
of the adjoint diffusion equation or ad­
density → detector; radiation; particle flu­
joint transport equation; for a critical
ence; particle flux density D Aktivierungs­
system, the a.f. is proportional to the
detektor F détecteur par activation Pl de­
importance function → diffusion equa­
tektor aktywacyjny Sv aktiveringsdetektor
tion; transport equation; neutron flux; im­
activation foil mt • activation detec­ portance function D Adjungierte der Neu­
tor which has a shape of a thin foil tronenflußdichte F adjoint de la densité de
→ activation detector; radiation D Ak­ flux neutronique; adjoint du débit de flu­
tivierungsfolie F feuille d’activation Pl folia
ence neutronique; flux adjoint Pl strumień
aktywacyjna Sv aktiveringsfolium; aktiver­
sprzężony neutronów Sv adjungerad neu­
ingsfolie
tronflödestäthet
activation product rdy • substance
adjoint of the neutron flux den­
that becomes radioactive due to ir­
sity →adjoint flux
radiation, usually by neutrons →
radioactive; exposure1 ; neutron D Ak­ ADS →accelerator-driven system
tivierungsprodukt F produit d’activation Pl Advanced CANDU reactor
produkt aktywacji Sv aktiveringsprodukt → ACR
activity rdy • (in a given amount of advanced gas-cooled reactor rty •
material:) number of nuclei which de­ (abbreviated AGR:) nuclear reactor
cay per unit time; the SI unit of a. is with graphite moderator in which gas
the becquerel (Bq); an older unit of a., is used as the coolant, the fuel is en­
which is still sometime encountered, is riched and the fuel cladding is made
the curie (Ci) → becquerel; curie; radioac­ of stainless steel → gas-cooled reactor;
tivity D Aktivität F activité Pl aktywność carbon; coolant; moderator; enriched fuel1
Sv aktivitet1 D fortgeschrittener gasgekühlter Reaktor F
activity concentration rdy • (for réacteur avancé refroidi par gaz Pl za­

5
advantage factor
awansowany reaktor chłodzony gazem Sv
avancerad gaskyld reaktor
advantage factor rph • ratio of a
certain radiation quantity value at a
point where an elevated effect of some
kind is achieved and the same quan­
tity value at a reference point → ra­
diation D Überhöhungsfaktor F facteur
d’avantage Pl współczynnik spiętrzenia Sv
förhöjningsfaktor
aerodynamic separation process
→enrichment1
Ag →silver
age rph • (also called Fermi age:)
parameter defined for slowing-down
neutrons with energy E as τ ≡
E0 D
E ξΣs E !
dE ' , where D - diffusion co­
efficient, Σs - scattering cross section,
ξ - average logarithmic energy decre­
ment, E0 - initial (source) energy; us­
ing a solution of the age equation for
a point source of fast monoenergetic
neutrons undergoing continuous slow­
ing down in a nonabsorbing medium,
it can be shown that τ = 16 rs2 ; here
rs is a mean square slowing-down dis­
tance, which is physically equivalent
to the crow-flight distance from the alpha-bearing waste wst • wastes
point where a neutron is emitted as which contain one or several alpha
a fast neutron to the point where it emitters, usually actinides, in such
slows down to energy E → slowing- amounts that the prescribed limits
down D Fermi-Alter F âge Pl wiek Sv are exceeded → actinide; alpha emitter
ålder; Fermi-ålder
age of waste wst • 1. (related to used
fuel, activation products or waste
from fuel reprocessing:) time after the
irradiation was ended 2. (related to
waste which originates from contact
with radioactive material:) time after
separation from the radioactive mate­
rial → radioactive material D Abfallalter
F âge des déchets Pl wiek odpadów Sv av­
fallsålder
AGR →advanced gas-cooled reactor
air monitor rdp • radiation mon­
6
alpha decay
itor for air-borne radioactive mate­
rial → radiation monitor D Luftmoni­
tor; Luftüberwachungsgerät F moniteur at­
mosphèrique Pl wskaźnik radioaktywności
powietrza Sv luftmonitor
Al →aluminum
ALARA rdp • (acronym for As Low
as Reasonably Achievable:) approach
in safety radiation protection accord­
ing to which all radiation due to us­
age of radiation sources shall be re­
duced as much as possible, taking into
consideration the economic and social
factors → radiation source; radiation pro­
tection D ALARA F ALARA Pl ALARA
Sv ALARA
albedo nap • coefficient of reflection
of radiation from a surface → radiation
D Albedo F albédo Pl albedo Sv albedo
albedo dosimeter rdp • individual
dosimeter which registers neutrons
scattered from the body → individual
dosimeter D Albedodosimeter F dosimètre
à albédo Pl albedometr Sv albedodosimeter
alert →reference level for emergency ac­
tion
D radioaktiver Abfall mit Alphastrahlern
F déchet radioactif alpha Pl odpad alfa­
promieniotwórczy Sv alfaavfall
alpha box rdp • glove box specially
designed for work with alpha emit­
ters → alpha emitter D Alphakasten
F boîte à gants pour émetteurs alpha Pl
komora rękawicowa do pracy z emiterem
promieniowania alfa Sv alfabox
alpha decay rdy • radioactive decay
in which the alpha particle is emitted
by an unstable nucleus → alpha emitter;
decay; radiation; nucleus D Alphazerfall F
alpha emitter annular flow

désintégration alpha Pl rozpad alfa Sv al­cross section (0.23 b) to be suitable

fasönderfall (to some extent) as a structure ma­
alpha emitter rdy • radioactive nu­ terial in nuclear reactors (e.g. in mag-
clide that is emitting alpha particles nox), but its low creep strength makes
→ alpha particle; nuclide D Alphastrahler it unsuitable for temperatures above
F émetteur alpha Pl emiter promieniowania 300 ℃→ element; magnox; boral D Alu­
alfa Sv alfastrålare minium F aluminium Pl glin; aluminium Sv
alpha particle rd • (denoted α:) aluminium
particle with a positive electric ambient dose equivalent rdp • dose
charge identical with the nucleus equivalent at 10 mm depth in a sphere
of helium consisting of two protons with 30 cm in diameter made of
and two neutrons, with rest mass tissue-like material with density of
6.644 657 230(82) × 10−27 kg, typi­ 1000 kg/m3 ; the a.d.e. is measur­
cally produced in the process of alpha able and is the most reliable approx­
decay → alpha decay; alpha radiation D imation of the effective dose equiv­
Alphateilchen F particule alpha Pl cząstka alent in an unknown radiative envi­
alfa Sv alfapartikel ronment → dose equivalent; effective dose
alpha radiation rd • (also called equivalent D - F équivalent de dose am­
alpha rays:) alpha particles emitted biant Pl środowiskowy równoważnik dawki
during the alpha decay process; the pochłoniętej Sv miljödosekvivalent
range of the a.r. depends on the americium mat • synthetic chemi­
source of the radiation and in the cal element denoted Am, with atomic
air it varies from 25 mm for 232 Th number Z = 95, belonging to the fam­
to 86 mm for 212 Po → radiation; beta ily of minor actinides, created in nu­
radiation; gamma radiation; ionizing radia­ clear reactors due to an irradiation
tion D Alphastrahlung F rayonnement al­ of uranium and plutonium by neu­
pha; rayons alpha Pl promieniowanie alfa Sv trons → minor actinide; transmutation;
alfastrålning plutonium; uranium D Americium F améri­
alpha ratio rph • (denoted α, also cium Pl ameryk Sv americium
called capture-to-fission ratio:) ratio angle-integrated neutron flux
of the microscopic cross section for ra­ →neutron flux density
diative capture σγ to the microscopic angular cross section xr • differen­
cross section for fission σf in a fissile tial cross section with respect to the
material, α = σγ /σf → cross section; spatial direction angle → cross section;
radiative capture; fission D Verhältniszahl differential cross section D raumwinkelbezo­
α bei spaltbaren Kernen F facteur alpha Pl gener Wirkungsquerschnitt F section efficace
współczynnik α Sv infångningskvot différentielle angulaire Pl przekrój czynny
alpha rays →alpha radiation kątowy Sv vinkeltvärsnitt
aluminum mat • chemical ele­ angular flux density →neutron flux
ment denoted Al, with atomic num­ density
ber Z=13, relative atomic mass annular flow th • two-phase flow
Ar =26.981538, density 2.70 g/cm3 , pattern in which the liquid phase
melting point 660.32 ℃, boiling point flows along channel walls as a liq­
2519 ℃; a. has reasonably high melt­ uid film, and also as droplets in the
ing point and low thermal-neutron central part of the channel, which is

7
anticipated transient without scram atom

mainly filled with the gaseous phase Ar →relative atomic mass

→ two-phase flow; two-phase flow pattern; area monitor rdp • radiation moni­
bubbly flow; slug flow; mist flow D ­ tor to survey the level of ionizing ra­
F écoulement annulaire Pl przepływ pierś­ diation at a given location, for exam­
cieniowy Sv ringflöde ple, in a nuclear reactor’s surround­
anticipated transient without ings → ionizing radiation; radiation moni­
scram rs • (abbreviated ATWS :) fail­ tor D Raummonitor; Raumüberwachungs­
ure of the reactor protection (or shut­ gerät F moniteur de zone Pl monitor stre­
down) system when a transient re­ fowy Sv omgivningsmonitor
quired a reactor trip, leading poten­ argon mat • chemical element de­
tially to core meltdown; → reactor noted Ar, with atomic number Z=18,
trip; transient; protective system D ATWS- relative atomic mass Ar =39.948, den­
Störfall F transitoire sans arrêt d’urgence Pl sity 1.396 g/cm3 , melting point ­
stan przejściowy bez awaryjnego wyłączenia 189.35 ℃, boiling point -185.85 ℃,
reaktora Sv transient med uteblivet reak­ crustal average abundance 3.5 mg/kg
torsnabbstopp and ocean abundance 0.45 mg/L; a.
AP1000 reactor rty • designed is the most common noble gas and
by Westinghouse, two-loop advanced its radioisotope 41 Ar, produced by the
pressurized water reactor configura­ 40 Ar(n,γ)41 Ar reaction during the ir­
tion with capability of producing radiation of air by neutrons, is the
over 1000 MWe, employing extensive only significant radioisotope released
passive safety systems; each circula­ to the atmosphere during normal re­
tion loop consists of one steam gen­ actor operation → element; radioisotope
erator and two circulation pumps; D Argon F argon Pl argon Sv argon
AP1000 is designed to use 17 × 17 artificial radioactivity rdy • ra­
pin array fuel assemblies containing dioactivity of isotopes obtained arti­
mixed-oxide (PuO2 /UO2 ) fuel; the ficially, first discovered by Irène and
first AP1000 reactor was constructed Frédéric Joliot-Curie in 1934 → ra­
in China and connected to the grid dioactivity; synthetic element; element D
on July 2, 2018 → pressurized water re­ künstliche Radioaktivität F radioactivité ar­
actor; passive safety D AP1000-Reaktor tificielle Pl promieniotwórczość sztuczna Sv
F réacteur AP1000 Pl reaktor AP1000 Sv konstgjord radioaktivitet
AP1000-reaktor asymptotic neutron flux density
approach to criticality rph • se­ rph • neutron flux density inside a vol­
ries of small reactivity increases in a ume filled with a certain substance at
subcritical system by successive small a distance equivalent to several mean
changes of one of the system’s param­ free paths from the volume boundary,
eters; through a.t.c. and using extrap­ the local neutron sources or the local
olation, it is possible to predict the ex­ neutron absorbers → neutron flux den­
act value of the parameter for which sity; mean free path; absorber D asympto­
the system will be critical → criticality tische Neutronenflussdichte F densité de flux
D Annäherung an den kritischen Zustand F asymptotique de neutrons Pl asymptotyczna
approache sous-critique Pl dochodzenie do gęstość strumienia neutronów Sv asympto­
krytyczności Sv närmande till kriticitet tisk neutronflödestäthet
Ar →argon atom bph • smallest constituent unit

8
atom density autocatalytic instability

of a chemical element with mass in to 11.7142 × 10−27 m for uranium;

range from 1.67×10−27 to 4.52×10−25 since a stable nucleus has approxi­
kg and diameter from 62 pm (He) to mately a constant density, its radius
520 pm (Cs), containing electrons and R can be approximately computed as
a nucleus composed of neutrons and R = r0 A1/3 , where A - atomic mass
protons → element; neutron; proton; elec­ number and r0 = 1.25 × 10−15 m →
tron D Atom F atome Pl atom Sv atom neutron; proton; mass number; mass defect
atom density →atomic number density D Atomkern F noyau atomique Pl jądro
atomic bph • in relation to an atom, atomu Sv atomkärna
e.g., atomic mass, atomic nucleus → atomic number bph • (denoted Z:)
atomic mass; atomic nucleus; atomic num­ characteristic number describing a
ber; atomic weight D atom- F atomique Pl chemical element, equal to the num­
atomowa Sv atom- ber of protons found in the nucleus
atomic mass bph • mass of a sin­ of every atom of that element, iden­
gle neutral atom, often expressed in tical to the charge number of the
the non-SI atomic mass unit dalton atomic nucleus → mass number; nucleon;
(symbol Da or u); the rest mass of an element; atomic nucleus D Atomnummer;
atom X, with atomic number Z and Ordnungszahl F numéro atomique Pl liczba
mass number A is denoted M (A Z X)
atomowa Sv atomnummer
while that of its nucleus is denoted atomic number density bph • num­
m(Z X); the average of the atomic
A ber of atoms of a given type per unit
masses of all the isotopes of a chemi­ volume; for a substance with mass
cal element, weighted by their respec­ density ρ (kg/m 3
) and molar mass M
tive abundance on Earth, is called the (kg/mol), the a.n.d. is found as N =
atomic weight → atomic mass unit D 10 3
ρN A /M atoms/m 3
, where NA is
Atommasse F masse atomique Pl masa ato­ Avogadro’s constant → Avogadro’s con­
mowa Sv atommassa stant D - F - Pl gęstość liczbowa atomów
atomic mass number →mass number Sv ­
atomic mass unit bph • (also called atomic weight →atomic mass
dalton, denoted Da or u:) mass unit attenuation rd • reduction of a ra­
used in physics and chemistry that diation quantity (such as, e.g., radia­
corresponds exactly to one-twelfth of tion flux density or radiation energy
the mass of an unbound neutral atom density) when passing through mat­
of 12 C in its nuclear and electronic ter due to all kinds of interactions
ground state and at rest, that is, 1 u = with the matter (thus reduction due
1 Da = 1.660 539 066 60(50)×10−27 only to increasing distance from the
kg = 931.494 102 42(28) MeV/c2 → radiation source is not included) →
atomic mass D Atommasseneinheit F unité radiation; radiation source D materielle
de masse atomique Pl jednostka masy atom­ Schwächung F atténuation Pl osłabienie Sv
owej Sv atommassenhet; universell massen­ dämpning
het ATWS →anticipated transient without
atomic nucleus bph • central re­ scram
gion of an atom consisting of neu­ augmentation distance →linear ex­
trons and protons, with a diameter trapolation distance
from 1.7566 × 10−27 m for hydrogen autocatalytic instability rs • at­

9
automatic depressurization axial fuel gap

tribute of a nuclear reactor in which D mittleres logarithmisches Energidekre­

a power increase can sometime cause ment F décrément logarithmique moyen de
increase of the reactivity, which, in l’energie Pl średni logarytmiczny dekrement
turn, causes an additional increase of tłumienia Sv logaritmiskt energidekrement
the reactor power, leading to reac­ average power roc • ratio of a pro­
tor excursion, which is stopped when duced energy and the time during
the reactor core is destroyed → re­ which the energy was produced →
activity; reactor excursion; reactivity coeffi­ availability factor; capacity factor D mit­
cient; reactivity feed-back D selbstverstärk­ tlere Leistung F puissance moyenne Pl moc
ende Instabilität F instabilité autocataly­ średnia Sv medeleffekt
tique Pl samowzmacniająca się niestabilność average scattering angle cosine
Sv självförstärkande instabilitet rph • quantity appearing in the deriva­
automatic depressurization rs • tion of the one-speed diffusion equa­
relief of vapour through a pressure re­ tion and defined as µ0 ≡ 0Ω · Ω' ),
lief system in a boiling water reactor, where Ω and Ω' are unit direction
to allow pumping of water to the core vectors of a neutron before and af­
by the emergency core cooling sys­ ter scattering, respectively, and 0) rep­
tem at low reactor pressure → boiling resents averaging over all scattering
water reactor; emergency core cooling sys­ directions; for elastic scattering from
tem; pressure relief system D automatiche stationary nuclei with mass number
Druckentlastung F dépressurisation automa­ A, the a.s.a.c. is found as µ0 = 2/(3A)
tique Pl wymuszony upust pary; automaty­ → diffusion equation; scattering D - F - Pl
czny upust pary Sv tvångsnedblåsning średni kosinus kąta rozpraszania Sv medel­
availability factor roc • (for a re­ riktningscosinen
actor unit:) ratio of the time during Avogadro’s constant bph • (usually
which a generator in a reactor unit is denoted NA :) one of the exact fun­
connected to the electrical grid to the damental physical constants equal to
total calendar time during a given pe­ NA = 6.022 140 76 × 1023 mol−1 ,
riod of time, specified in percent → used to define the SI base unit of the
capacity factor D Verfügbarkeitsfaktor F amount of substance, mole → mole;
taux de disponibilité; coefficient de disponi­ Avogadro’s number D Avogadro-Konstante
bilité Pl wskaźnik dyspozycyjności Sv till­ F constante d’Avogadro Pl stała Avogadra
gänglighetsfaktor; tidtillgänglighetsfaktor Sv Avogadros konstant
average logarithmic energy Avogadro’s number bph • (usually
decrement rph • (denoted ξ:) av­ denoted N0 :) dimensionless number
erage of a natural logarithm of a ratio equal to the number of elementary
of neutron energy, subject to reduc­ entities (atoms or molecules) in one
tion per single collision from E1 to mole, with a fixed numerical value
E2 , given as: of Avogadro’s constant → mole; Avo­
gadro’s constant D Avogadro-Zahl F nom­
E1 α
ξ ≡ ln =1+ ln α, bre d’Avogadro Pl liczba Avogadra Sv Avo­
E2 1−α
gadros tal
where α = [(A − 1)/(A + 1)]2 and A axial fuel gap nf • (also called fuel
is the mass number of the species → gap:) axial distance between neigh­
energy decrement; scattering; mass number bouring fuel pellets → fuel pellet D

10
axial offset anomaly
axialer Brennstabzwischenraum F intervalle
des barreaux de combustible axials; écart ax­
ial entre les barreaux de combustible Pl os­
iowy odstęp między pastylkami paliwowymi
Sv kutsavstånd
axial offset anomaly →crud
axial peaking factor th • (in a reac­
tor with vertical fuel assemblies, also
called axial shape factor :) ratio of the
maximum local power density to the
11
axial shape factor
averaged power density in the verti­
cal direction in the whole core (this
defines the core a.p.f.) or in a single
assembly (this defines the assembly
a.p.f.) → radial peaking factor D axialer
Formfaktor F facteur (de forme) axial Pl os­
iowy współczynnik rozkładu mocy Sv axiell
formfaktor
axial shape factor →axial peaking fac­
tor
Bb

B →boron contre-pression Pl moc przeciwprężna Sv

BA →burnable absorber mottryckseffekt
back-end of the fuel cycle nf • back-scattering nap • scattering of
last stage of the nuclear fuel cycle radiation with an angle greater than
including the interim storage of the 90° from the initial radiation direc­
used fuel, possible fuel re-processing tion → scattering D Rückstreuung F
and fuel waste management → fuel cy­ rétrodiffusion Pl rozpraszanie wsteczne Sv
cle; front-end of the fuel cycle D Ende des bakåtspridning
Brennstoffkreislaufs F fin du cycle du com­
backwash (GB) →stripping (US)
bustible Pl etap końcowy cyklu paliwowego
Sv slutsteg2 bare reactor rty • nuclear reactor
backfitting →retrofitting in which there is no reflector sur­
rounding the core; the b.r. assump­
background mt • (in radiation mea­
tion is frequently adopted in compar­
surement:) signals of other origin than
ative theoretical studies of bucklings
the radiation that is to be detected
and neutron flux distributions in reac­
→ detector D Hintergrund; Untergrund F
tors of various shapes → buckling; reflec­
bruit de fond; mouvement propre Pl tło Sv
tor; reflector saving D reflektorloser Reak­
backgrund
tor; nackter Reaktor F réacteur nu; réacteur
background radiation rd • radia­ sans réflecteur Pl reaktor bez reflektora Sv
tion other than the one that is to be bar reaktor
measured, irrespective of the source
of radiation; there are several natu­ barn xr • (denoted b:) unit used in
ral sources of the b.r. such as the cos­ the nuclear physics for measuring the
mic radiation or the radiation caused microscopic cross section of a given
by radioactive isotopes naturally oc­ substance for a specific type of a nu­
curring on Earth → radiation; radioiso­ clear reaction: 1 barn = 1 b = 10−28
tope D Hintergrundstrahlung F fond de ray­ m2 = 10−24 cm2 → microscopic cross
onnement Pl promieniowanie tła Sv back­ section; nuclear reaction D Barn F barn Pl
grundsstrålning barn Sv barn

backpressure power th • electric barrier wst • natural or constructed

power generated in a turbogenera­ device, which delays or prevents dis­
tor in which the exit steam is used persion of radioactive nuclides; a con­
for other purposes, typically for heat­ structed barrier is a device that has
ing → turbogenerator D Gegendruck­ been changed or manufactured by hu­
sleistung; Gegendruckskraft F puissance de mans → nuclide; radioactive D Barriere F

13
barring beginning of cycle

barrière de confinement; barrière Pl bariera obliczanie wsadowe (kosztów) Sv satsvis

Sv barriär beräkning
barring →turning Be →beryllium
barytes concrete mat • high-density beam rd • current of particles di­
concrete, containing barytes (white rected around a narrow angle in space
or colourless minerals consisting of → particle; beam hole; beam trap D Strahl
barium sulphate BaSO4 ) for better F faisceau Pl wiązka (promieniowania) Sv
shielding properties → shielding; atten­ stråle
uation D Barytbeton F béton baryté Pl be- beam hole rd • channel that, for ex­
ton barytowy; barytobeton Sv barytbetong perimental purposes, releases radia­
base load →base power tion through a radiation shield → ra­
diation shield D Strahlrohr F canal expéri­
base-load operation roc • opera­
mental à sortie de faisceau Pl kanał doświad­
tion at a constant, high power → load
czalny Sv strålkanal
following D Grundlastbetrieb F fonction­
beam trap rd • device designed to
nement en base Pl praca w obciążeniu pod­
stop a beam of particles and to re­
stawowym Sv baslastdrift
duce the secondary radiation to an ac­
base-load station roc • power plant ceptable level due to, e.g., scattering
designed for a base-load operation → beam D Strahlenfänger F piège à fais­
→ base-load operation; base power D ceau Pl pułapka wiązki promieniowania Sv
Grundlastkraftwerk F centrale fonctionnant
strålfång
en base; centrale (de puissance) de base Pl
becquerel rd • SI unit used for ac­
elektrownia pracująca w obciążeniu podsta­
tivity, defined as one transformation
wowym Sv baslaststation
per second; the b. replaced an older
base power roc • (also called base unit of activity, and one which is still
load :) minimum level of demand on in use, the curie (Ci) → curie; radioac­
an electrical grid over a longer period tivity; decay D Becquerel F becquerel Pl
of time, usually met by high-efficiency bekerel Sv becquerel
power plants → base-load operation; peak bedrock depository wst • un­
power D Grundleistung F puissance de derground installation placed in a
creux Pl moc podstawowa Sv botteneffekt; bedrock and used for the ultimate dis­
baseffekt posal of radioactive wastes; according
batch nf • amount of nuclear mate­ to the KBS-3 technology, the waste
rial that, due to bookkeeping reasons, disposal process involves placement of
is treated as a unit at the measure­ wastes into a boron steel canister and
ment point in a nuclear installation enclosure in a copper capsule, which
→ key measurement point; safeguards D is subsequently placed in a hole in the
Charge F lot Pl wsad Sv sats b.d. and overpacked with bentonite
batch-by-batch method nf • clay → ultimate waste disposal; geologi­
method to calculate the fuel-cycle cal repository D Endlager im Granit F
costs in a nuclear reactor in which dépôt1 Pl składowisko ostateczne w podłożu
costs are added and incomes sub­ skalnym Sv bergförvar
tracted for each fuel load that is beginning of cycle roc • period dur­
placed in the reactor → fuel cycle D ing reactor operation just after the re­
Chargenmethode F méthode par lots Pl fuelling, used as a reference point in

14
beryllium
the analysis of the fuel in the reactor erster Gattung F fonctions de Bessel de
→ refuelling; end of cycle; operating cycle; première espèce Pl funkcje Bessela pier­
operating period D Zyklusanfang F début
de cycle Pl początek kampanii paliwowej Sv
början av driftperiod
beryllium mat • chemical ele­
ment denoted Be, with atomic num­
ber Z=4, relative atomic mass
Ar =9.012182, density 1.85 g/cm3 ,
melting point 1287 ℃, boiling point
2471 ℃, crustal average abundance
2.8 mg/kg and ocean abundance
5.6×10−6 mg/L; the b. metal is an ex­
cellent material for use as a moderator
or reflector (from the neutronic stand­
point, superior to graphite, with the
macroscopic cross section for absorp­
tion σa = 0.0092 b and for scattering
σs = 6.14 b), but it is relatively brittle
and expensive, and at present there
seems little prospect that it will be
used to any extent → element; graphite;
moderator D Beryllium F béryllium Pl
beryl Sv beryllium
Bessel functions of the first kind
mth • Bessel functions Jn (x), where
n is the order of the function; J0 (x)
describes the radial neutron flux dis­
tribution in a cylindrical core as ob­
tained from a solution of the neutron
diffusion equation; in general Jn (x)
can be represented as the following se­
ries,
2k
x n ∞ k
(−1) x2
Jn (x) = ; kind D Bessel-Funktionen dreiter Gattung
2 k!(n + k)!
k=0
for small x the following approxi­
mations are valid Jn (x) ≈ 2n1n! xn ,
, and Bessel’s differential equation mth
2 4
x6
J0 (x) ≈ 1 − x4 + x64 − 2304
3 5 • ordinary differential equation:
J1 (x) ≈ x2 − x16 + 384x
; first three
roots of J0 (x) = 0 are: x1 ≈ 2.40483,
x2 ≈ 5.52008, x3 ≈ 8.65373 → Bessel
functions of the second kind; Bessel func­
tions of the third kind D Bessel-Funktionen
15
Bessel’s differential equation
wszego rodzaju Sv besselfunktionerna av
första slaget
Bessel functions of the sec­
ond kind mth • Bessel functions
Yn (x), where n is the order of the
function; Y0 (x) describes the radial
neutron flux distribution in a hol­
low cylindrical region as obtained
from a solution of the neutron dif­
fusion equation; for small x, the
following approximations are valid,,
r 2
Y0 (x) ≈ π γ + ln 2 J0 (x) + x4
2 x
and Y1 (x) ≈ π2 γ + ln x2 J1 (x) − x1
]
where J0 (x) and J1 (x) are Bessel
functions of the first kind and zero
and first order, respectively, and γ =
0.577216 → Bessel functions of the first
kind; Bessel functions of the third kind D
Bessel-Funktionen zweiter Gattung F fonc­
tions de Bessel de deuxième espèce Pl
funkcje Bessela drugiego rodzaju Sv bessel­
funktionerna av andra slaget
Bessel functions of the third kind
mth • (also called Hankel functions:)
(1)
functions Hn (x) = Jn (x) + iYn (x)
(2)
and Hn (x) = Jn (x) − iYn (x), where
n is the order of the function, Jn (x)
is the Bessel function of the first kind
and n-th order, Yn (x) is the Bessel
function of the√ second kind and n-th
order and i = −1 → Bessel functions of
the first kind; Bessel functions of the second
F fonctions de Bessel de troisième espèce Pl
funkcje Bessela trzeciego rodzaju Sv bessel­
funktionerna av tredje slaget
d2 y 1 dy n2
2
+ + α2 − 2 y = 0
dx x dx x
with a general solution as follows
beta decay biological shield

y(x) = C1 Jn (αx) + C2 Yn (αx), where emitted during a radioactive beta de­

C1 and C2 are constants, Jn is the cay → beta decay; beta emitter; beta
Bessel function of the first kind and n­ particle; beta emission detector D Betas­
th order and Yn is the Bessel function trahlung F rayonnement bêta; rayons bêta
of the second kind and n-th order → Pl promieniowanie beta Sv betastrålning
Bessel functions of the first kind; Bessel func­
beta treatment mat • treatment of
tions of the second kind; Bessel functions of
uranium by heating, followed by sud­
the third kind D Besselsche Differentialgle­
den cooling, which leads to forma­
ichung F équation différentielle de Bessel Pl
tion of uranium β-phase; the b.t. re­
równanie różniczkowe Bessela Sv Bessel dif­
duces risks of swelling, especially dur­
ferentialekvationen
ing irradiation → irradiation; swelling
beta decay rdy • radioactive decay D Betabehandlung F traitement bêta Pl
through emission of a beta particle, obróbka beta Sv betabehandling
after which the atomic number of
a decaying nucleus increases or de­ binding energy bph • (of nucleus:)
creases by one and the mass num­ energy equivalent to the work that has
ber is constant; in the former case a to be done to decompose a nucleus
neutron in the nucleus changes to a into the constituent nucleons; for a
proton, and an electron (β − ) together nucleus composed of Z protons and
with anti-neutrino (ν) are emitted; in N = A − Z neutrons, the b.e. can be
the latter case a proton in the nucleus calculated as BE(A Z X) = [ZM (1 H) +
1

changes to a neutron, and a positron (A − Z)mn − M (Z X)]c , where mn

A 2

(β + ) together with a neutrino (ν) are - rest mass of neutron, M (11 H) - rest
emitted → alpha decay; beta particle; beta mass of hydrogen atom, M (A Z X) - rest
emitter; electron D Betazerfall F désinté­
mass of atom A
Z X and c - speed of
gration bêta Pl rozpad beta Sv betasönder­
light → nucleus; nucleon; atomic mass D
Bindungsenergie F énergie de liaison Pl en­
fall
ergia wiązania Sv bindningsenergi
beta emission detector →collectron
beta emitter rdy • radioactive nu­ biological half-life rdp • time dur­
clide that is emitting beta particles → ing which an amount of a certain sub­
beta decay; beta particle; nuclide D Betas­ stance in a biological system reduces
trahler F émetteur bêta Pl emiter beta Sv to one-half due to biological processes;
betastrålare the b.h.-l. is used when the reduction
beta particle rd • electron (β ) or of the substance approximately fol­
−

positron (β + ) emitted from a nuclide lows the exponential curve → effective

due to radioactive decay → beta decay; half-life; radioactive half-life D Biologische
beta emitter; nuclide D Betateilchen F par­ Halbwertzeit F période biologique Pl biolog­
ticule bêta Pl cząstka beta Sv betapartikel iczny okres półrozpadu Sv biologisk halver­
beta quenching mat • sudden cool­ ingstid
ing of zirconium alloy from high tem­ biological shield rcs • radiation
perature, in which the β phase is sta­ shield whose main purpose is to re­
ble → zirconium D Betaaushärtung F duce the radiation to the level that is
trempe bêta Pl hartowanie beta Sv be­ not dangerous to humans → thermal
tasläckning shield D biologische Abschirmung; biologis­
beta radiation rd • beta particles cher Schild F bouclier biologique Pl osłona

16
Biot’s number Boltzmann constant

biologiczna Sv biologisk strålskärm; biolo­ primary system of a light-water nu­

gisk skärm clear reactor; the b. is usually divided
Biot’s number th • dimensionless into two parts: the blowdown of a sub­
number representing a ratio of the cooled water and the blowdown of sat­
heat transfer coefficient h to the ther­ urated water → loss-of-coolant accident
mal conductivity of the wall material D Ausblasen F évacuation Pl wydmuch Sv
λ, defined as Bi = hL/λ, where L is a nedblåsning
characteristic length of the heat trans­ blowdown system rcs • part of the
fer system → thermal conductivity; heat pressure relief system that is used dur­
transfer coefficient D Biot-Zahl F nombre ing blowdown of steam to the wetwell
de Biot Pl liczba Biota Sv Biots tal → blowdown; pressure relief system; wetwell
bird cage rs • device to keep a D Ausblassystem F système de soufflage1 Pl
minimum necessary distance between układ wydmuchu Sv nedblåsningssystem
objects containing fissile material, to BOC →beginning of cycle
prevent criticality, when the objects body burden rdp • total activity of a
come too close to each other → criti­ certain radionuclide in a human body
cality; fissile material D Abstandsgestell F or in an animal → activity; radionuclide
cage de transport Pl klatka transportowa Sv D Körperbelastung F charge corporelle Pl
säkerhetsställ aktywność ciała Sv kroppsaktivitet
bitumen mat; wst • asphalt used to boiling crisis →critical heat flux
infuse radioactive wastes → radioactive
boiling reactor rty • type of a nu­
waste D Bitumen F bitume Pl bitum Sv clear reactor in which the primary
bitumen coolant is boiling at the operational
bituminization wst • binding of ra­ pressure → light-water reactor; pressur­
dioactive wastes through infusion in ized water reactor; saturated boiling D
the bitumen → bitumen; radioactive Siederaktor F réacteur bouillant Pl reaktor
waste D Bituminierung F bitumage; en­ wrzący Sv kokarreaktor
robage par le bitumen Pl bitumizacja Sv bi­ boiling water cooled reactor rty
tumeningjutning; bituminering • boiling reactor with water as the
black nap • (concerning material or primary coolant → boiling reactor; light-
device in nuclear engineering:) which water reactor; pressurized water reactor;
absorbs all neutrons of a certain en­ saturated boiling D siedewassergekühlter
ergy, incident to this material or de­ Reaktor F réacteur refroidi par eau bouil­
vice → absorption; gray D schwarz F noir lante Pl reaktor chłodzony wrzącą wodą Sv
Pl całkowicie pochłaniający; czarny Sv to­ kokvattenkyld reaktor
talabsorberande boiling water reactor rty • (ab­
blanket rcs • region in a nuclear reac­ breviated BWR:) boiling reactor with
tor located in direct proximity to the water as the primary coolant and
core that contains a fertile material, moderator → boiling reactor; light-water
which is converted into new nuclear reactor; pressurized water reactor; saturated
fuel → conversion; fertile material; reactor boiling D Siedewasserreaktor F réacteur
core D Brutzone F couche fertile; couver­ à eau bouillante Pl reaktor wodny wrzący;
ture Pl płaszcz (reaktora) Sv mantel reaktor z wrzącą wodą Sv kokvattenreaktor;
blowdown th • first stage following lättvattenkokare; BWR
a postulated break of a pipe in the Boltzmann constant bph • (usually

17
bond1 boron equivalent

denoted kB :) one of the exact fun­ noted B, with atomic number Z=5,
damental physical constants equal to relative atomic mass Ar =10.811,
kB = 1.380 649 × 10−23 J/K, used in density 2.37 g/cm3 , melting point
a definition of the kelvin; the B.c. re­ 2075 ℃, boiling point 4000 ℃, crustal
lates the average relative kinetic en­ average abundance 10 mg/kg and
ergy of particles in a gas with the ocean abundance 4.44 mg/L; b. is a
temperature of the gas → kelvin D useful control material because the
Boltzmann-Konstante F constante de Boltz­ absorption cross section for neutrons
mann Pl stała Boltzmanna Sv Boltzmanns is large over a considerable range
konstant of neutron energies, with the micro­
bond1 mat • close contact between scopic cross section for absorption of
nuclear fuel and cladding achieved ei­ thermal neutrons σa = 759 b; boron
ther by mechanical or metallurgical carbide B4 C is preferred in boiling wa­
way → cladding D Verbund F liaison1 Pl ter reactors → element; boral; boron con­
wiązanie Sv bindning trol D Bor F bore Pl bor Sv bor
bond2 mat • substance that is causing boron chamber mt • ionization
the bond → bond1 D Verbundmaterial F chamber that contains boron or boron
liaison2 Pl substancja wiążąca Sv bindämne compounds, primarily dedicated to
bone-seeker rdp • substance that is detection of slow neutrons → ionization
absorbed in bones to a larger ex­ chamber D Borkammer F chambre à bore
tent than in other living tissues → Pl komora (jonizacyjna) borowa Sv borkam­
dose D Knochensucher F substance os­ mare
tétrope Pl substancja osteotropowa Sv ben­
boron control roc • type of reactor
sökande ämne
power control in a pressurized water-
book inventory sfg • balance of cooled reactor through changes of the
the latest physically determined in­ concentration of boric acid (H BO )
3 3
ventory of the nuclear material and in the moderator → power control D
all booked changes of the material af­ Borsteuerung F contrôle par le bore Pl
terwards → nuclear material D Buchbe­ sterowanie borem Sv borstyrning
stand F stock comptable Pl zaksięgowana
ilość materiału rozszczepialnego Sv bokförd
boron counter tube mt • counter
kärnämnesmängd; bokförd mängd
tube containing boron primarily ded­
icated to detection of slow neutrons →
booster element nf • fuel assembly
boron chamber; counter tube D Borzählrohr
which is introduced to a reactor core
F tube compteur à bore Pl licznik borowy
to compensate a temporary reactivity
Sv borräknerör
defect due to, e.g., the xenon transient
→ fuel assembly; xenon transient D An­ boron curtain →boron plate
fahrbrennelement F élément de dopage Plboron equivalent mat • measure of
kaseta wspomagająca Sv hjälppatron contamination level of reactor mate­
boral mat • solid dispersion of boron rial, in particular of nuclear fuel, in­
carbide in aluminium, used as a neu­ dicating the neutron absorption abil­
tron absorber → neutron absorber; alu­ ity due to the contamination, corre­
minum; boron D Boral F boral Pl boral sponding to an equivalent boron con­
Sv boral tent → radioactive contamination; neutron
boron mat • chemical element de­ absorption; nuclear fuel; boron D Boräquiv­

18
boron glass rod breeding

alent F équivalent bore Pl równoważnik to, e.g., a non-uniform temperature

borowy Sv boreqvivalent distribution → fuel rod D Durchbiegen
boron glass rod rcs • neutron ab­ F arcure; déformation en arc Pl wyboczenie
sorber, formed as a glass rod contain­ (pręta paliwowego) Sv stavböjning
ing boron, which can function as a BR →breeding ratio
burnable absorber → boron plate; burn­ Brayton cycle th • reference ther­
able absorber; neutron absorber D Bor­ modynamic cycle taking place in gas
glasstab F barre de bore vitrifiée Pl pręt ze turbines; the B.c. consists of the
szkła borowego Sv borglasstav following processes: adiabatic com­
boron injection roc • addition of pression, isobaric heating, adiabatic
a diluted boron to coolant in wa­ de-compression and isobaric cooling;
ter moderated reactor to reduce the next to the Rankine cycle, B.c. is the
reactivity at the shutdown → water- most widely implemented thermody­
moderated reactor; reactivity; shutdown D namic cycle in the electric power gen­
Boreinspritzung F injection de bore Pl eration; assuming ideal processes and
wtrysk boru Sv borinsprutning constant heat capacity of the gas, the
boron plate rcs • neutron absorber, B.c. efficiency is given as η = 1 −
formed as a plate containing boron, (p1 /p2 )(κ−1)/κ , where κ = cp /cv - ra­
which can function as a burnable ab­ tio of specific heats at constant pres­
sorber → boron glass rod; burnable ab­ sure and volume of the gas, p1 - low
sorber; neutron absorber D Borschild F pressure of the cycle, p2 - high pres­
plaque de bore Pl płyta borowa Sv borplåt sure of the cycle, r = p2 /p1 - compres­
borosilicate glass mat • glass that sion ratio → Carnot cycle; Rankine cycle;
is used as a binding material for ra­ cycle efficiency D Joule-Kreisprozess F cy­
dioactive wastes → radioactive waste D cle de Brayton Pl obieg Braytona-Joule’a Sv
Borsilikatglas F verre borosilicaté Pl szkło Braytoncykel
borokrzemianowe Sv borsilikatglas breeder reactor rty • nuclear reac­
bottom nozzle nf • plate in the tor in which the number of new fis­
lower region of the PWR fuel assem­ sile atoms created by conversion is
bly supporting fuel rods; for the BWR greater than the total number of fuel
fuel assembly this part is called the atoms used in the same period of
bottom tie plate → PWR; BWR; reactor time; this means that the conversion
core; top nozzle D untere Gitterplatte F ratio in the b.r. is greater than 1,
plaque-support inférieure Pl płyta dolna Sv and thus, it is called the breeding ra­
bottenplatta tio → conversion; conversion ratio; breed­
bottom tie plate →bottom nozzle ing ratio D Brutreaktor; Brütter F réacteur
boundary layer th • region inside a surrégénérateur; surrégénérateur Pl reaktor
fluid moving in a vicinity of a solid powielający Sv bridreaktor
wall in which the viscosity forces are breeding rph • process in which the
at least of the same order of magni­ number of new fissile atoms created
tude as the inertial forces → turbu­ by conversion of a fertile atoms is
lent flow D Fluiddynamische Grenzschicht greater than the total number of fuel
F couche limite Pl warstwa przyścienna Sv atoms used in the same period of time;
gränsskikt fertile isotopes 238 U and 232 Th can be
bowing nf • bending of a fuel rod due converted into fissile isotopes 239 Pu

19
breeding gain build-up factor

and 233 U, respectively, and can be where y = 2 (Ec − E0 ) /Γ; here σ0

used for the b. → conversion; conver­ - total cross section at the resonance
sion ratio; breeding ratio D Brüten F sur­ energy E0 , Ec - center of mass en­
régénération Pl powielanie Sv bridning ergy, Γ - so-called total line width
breeding gain rph • (denoted G:) (characterizing the full width at half-
measure of a new fuel production in a maximum of the resonance), Γγ - ra­
breeder reactor defined as G = BR − diative line width (characterizing the
1 = (FE − FB )/FD = FG /FD , where probability that the compound nu­
BR - breeding ratio, FE - fissile in­ cleus will decay via gamma emission)
ventory in the reactor at the end of → microscopic cross section; resonance D
a cycle, FB - fissile inventory in the Breit-Wigner-Formel F - Pl wzór Breita-
reactor at the beginning of a cycle, Wignera Sv Breit-Wigner formeln
FG - fissile material gained per cy­ bremsstrahlung rd • photons emit­
cle and FD - fissile material destroyed ted by charged particles when they
per cycle → breeder reactor; breeding ra­ are deflected by the electric fields of
tio D Brutgewinn F gain de surrégénération nuclei and ambient electrons → radia­
Pl uzysk powielania Sv bridvinst tion; gamma radiation D Bremsstrahlung F
breeding ratio rph • (abbreviated rayonnement de freinage Pl promieniowanie
BR:) ratio of the number of fissile nu­ hamowania Sv bromsstrålning
clei formed to the number destroyed bubbly flow th • two-phase flow pat­
in a reactor when it is larger than tern, in which the gas phase exists as
unity and breeding occurs; the b.r. de­ small bubbles moving in a continuous
termines the reactor ability to pro­ liquid phase → two-phase flow; two-phase
duce new fuel, expressed as BR = flow pattern D blasenströmung F écoule­
η − (1 + L), where BR is the b.r., η ment à bulles Pl przepływ pęcherzykowy Sv
is the neutron yield per absorption of bubbelströmning
one neutron in fuel, L is the number buckling rph • (denoted B 2 :) approx­
of neutrons that are lost due to a par­ imate measure of a square of a curva­
asitic absorption or escape from the ture of the surface which determines
reactor; since L > 0 and BR > 1, how the neutron flux density varies
thus it must be η > 2, which con­ with position (e.g., in a nuclear re­
stitutes the fundamental criterion for actor); for a bare critical reactor the
the fuel in the breeding reactor to geometric b. and the material b. are
make the breeding possible → conver­ equal → neutron flux density; bare reactor;
sion; conversion ratio; neutron yield per ab­ critical; critical equation D Flußwölbung
sorption; breeding gain D Brutverhältnis F F laplacien Pl parametr krzywizny (stru­
rapport de surrégénération Pl współczynnik mienia neutronów w reaktorze) Sv buktighet
powielania Sv bridförhållande buffer zone rph • zone which accom­
Breit-Wigner formula xr • for­ plishes a smooth transition of neutron
mula describing the microscopic properties between two different re­
cross section for radiative cap­ gions in a reactor core → reactor core
ture σγ in the neighbourhood of D Pufferzone F zone tampone Pl strefa bu­
a single isolated resonance around forowa Sv buffertzon
energy E0 as follows: σγ (Ec ) = build-up factor nap • (for radia­
1/2
σ0 (Γγ /Γ) (E0 /Ec ) / 1 + y 2 , tion passage through matter:) a ra­

20
built-in reactivity BWR

tio of the total value of a certain ra­ absorbeur consommable Pl paliwo z wypala­
diation parameter at a certain point jącym się absorbentem Sv BA-bränsle
to the contribution to this value from burnable poison →burnable absorber
radiation that reach the point with­ burner reactor rty • nuclear reactor
out any previous collision → radiation in which the number of created fissile
D Zuwachsfaktor; Aufbaufaktor F facteur nuclei due to conversion is small and
d’accumulation Pl współczynnik narastania the conversion ratio is less than unity
Sv tillväxtfaktor → conversion; conversion ratio D Brenner
built-in reactivity rph • excess re­ F réacteur brûleur Pl reaktor wypalający Sv
activity in a clean (that is not con­ brännreaktor
taining fission products) and cold (at burnup nf • conversion of atomic nu­
the ambient temperature) nuclear re­ clei in fuel caused by the neutron irra­
actor, when all control rods are re­ diation in a nuclear reactor → conver­
moved → reactivity; excess reactivity D sion; specific burnup; FIMA; FIFA D Ab-
anfängliche Überschußreaktivität F réserve brand F combustion nucléaire Pl wypalenie
de réactivité Pl reaktywność wbudowana Sv (paliwa) Sv utbränning
inbyggd reaktivitet burnup fraction rph • ratio of the
bulk boiling →saturated boiling current number of atomic nuclei in
burnable absorber rph • neutron fuel that is undergoing conversion, to
absorber which is deliberately placed the initial number of nuclei → conver­
in a reactor core and which is used sion; burnup; specific burnup; FIMA; FIFA
(“burned”) due to neutron absorp­ D relativer Abbrand F taux de combustion;
tion; in this way the diminishing re­ taux d’épuisement Pl stopień wypalenia Sv
actor reactivity due to fuel burn-up utbränningskvot
is compensated by the absorber bur­ burst can nf • fuel element with
nup → neutron absorber; reactivity D damaged cladding, through which fis­
abbrennbarer Absorber F absorbeur con­ sion products are leaking → fuel el­
sommable Pl wypalający się absorbent Sv ement; cladding; fission product D leck­
brännbar absorbator endes Brennelement F rupture de gaine
burnable absorber fuel nf • nu­ Pl uszkodzona koszulka (paliwowa) Sv
clear fuel which contains a burnable läckande bränsleelement
absorber → nuclear fuel; burnable ab­ burst cartridge →burst can
sorber; neutron absorber D Brennstoff mit burst slug →burst can
abbrennbarem Absorber F combustible avec BWR →boiling water reactor

21
Cc

C →carbon below the melting temperature until

Ca →calcium moisture and volatile substances are
cadmium mat • chemical element de­ removed and the important compo­
noted Cd, with atomic number Z=48, nents transformed into stable oxides
relative atomic mass Ar =112.411, → incineration; yellow cake D Kalzinierung
density 8.69 g/cm3 , melting point F calcination Pl prażenie kalcynujące Sv
321 ℃, boiling point 767 ℃, crustal kalcinering
average abundance 0.15 mg/kg and calcium mat • chemical element de­
ocean abundance 1.1×10−4 mg/L; c. noted Ca, with atomic number Z=20,
has a significant cross section for neu­ relative atomic mass Ar =40.078, den­
tron absorption (σa = 2450 b for ther­ sity 1.54 g/cm3 , melting point 842 ℃,
mal neutrons) which makes it a useful boiling point 1484 ℃, crustal aver­
material for control-rod alloys (such age abundance 4.15×104 mg/kg and
as Ag-In-Cd alloy used in PWR con­ ocean abundance 412 mg/L; c. is one
trol elements) → element; control element of the impurities that are controlled
D Cadmium F cadmium Pl kadm Sv kad­ and limited in the primary circuit of
mium a PWR with respect to their impact
cadmium ratio mt • ratio of neutron on crud deposition → element; crud D
intensity observed by a detector with Calcium F calcium Pl wapń Sv kalcium
and without a cadmium screen of a can →cladding
specified thickness → cadmium; radia­ canal rcs • water-filled space in a de­
tion detector D Cadmiumverhältnis F rap­ cay pond where nuclear fuel and other
port cadmique Pl współczynnik kadmowy strongly radioactive parts from a nu­
Sv kadmiumkvot clear reactor are placed before further
calandria rcs • closed reactor vessel transportation, treatment or storage
or moderator tank, with penetrating → decay pond; spent fuel pool D Ent­
pipes that are designed to separate ladungskanal F canal; tube de transfert Pl
moderator from coolant, to allow ir­ kanał transportu paliwa Sv bränsletrans­
radiation, or to contain pressure pipes portkanal
with fuel channels → CANDU reactor; CANDU reactor rty • (acronym for
reactor vessel; moderator tank; fuel channel CAN ada Deuterium U ranium:) type
D Kalandriagefäß F calandre Pl kalandria; of a pressurized heavy-water reactor
zbiornik rurowy Sv rörtank designed in Canada and used for gen­
calcination wst • heating up of a erating the electric power, employing
substance in air to a temperature the natural uranium as a fuel, and the

23
canister1
heavy water both as a moderator and
coolant; all power reactors of this kind
have been built in Canada but have
been marketed to other countries such
as Argentina, China, India, Pakistan,
Romania and South Korea → PHWR;
ACR; heavy water D CANDU-Reaktor F
réacteur CANDU Pl reaktor CANDU Sv
CANDU-reaktor
canister1 wst • inner container to en­
capsulate solid radioactive waste, usu­
ally in a cylindrical shape; an outer
container is used as the shielding
→ radioactive waste D Abfallbehälter F
conteneur de déchets; fût1 Pl kanister na
odpady Sv avfallsbehålare
canister2 wst • (within waste man­
agement:) container for a solid ra­
dioactive waste material; the c. keeps
the material sealed and isolated from
the surroundings, whereas the shield­
ing can be provided by an exter­
nal container → waste management D
Abfallbehälter2 F cartouche; cartouche de
béton Pl kapsuła na odpady Sv kapsel1
canning nf • procedure to provide
cladding for a nuclear fuel → cladding
D Einhüllen; Einhülsen F gainage1 Pl
koszulkowanie Sv kapsling
capacity factor roc • (expressed in
percent:) ratio of the total electric
energy generated over a time pe­
riod (EG ) to a product of the plant
rated power (NR ) and the calendar
time (Tcal ), CF = 100EG /(NR Tcal )%
→ gross power; availability factor D
Leistungsausnutzung F taux de charge Pl
współczynnik wykorzystania mocy Sv ut­
nyttjningsfaktor; energiuttnytjningsfaktor
capture nap • particle-nucleus inter­
action in which the particle is ab­
sorbed by the nucleus to form a com­
pound nucleus in an excited (high­
energy) state; this excess energy is
next changed by, e.g., emission of
24
Carnot cycle
gamma radiation, but the particle is
kept in the residual nucleus → radia­
tive capture; capture gamma radiation D
Einfang F capture Pl wychwyt Sv infångn­
ing
capture cross section nap • cross
section for a capture reaction → cross
section; capture D Einfangsquerschnitt
F section efficace de capture Pl przekrój
czynny na wychwyt Sv infångningstvärsnitt
capture gamma radiation rd •
gamma radiation emitted after the ra­
diative capture → gamma radiation; ra­
diative capture D Einfanggammastrahlung
F rayonnement gamma de capture Pl
promieniowanie gamma powychwytowe Sv
infångningsgammastrålning
capture-to-fission ratio →alpha ra­
tio
carbide fuel →ceramic fuel
carbon mat • chemical element de­
noted C, with atomic number Z=6;
c. occurs in nature in pure forms
as diamonds and graphite and in
impure forms as coal and charcoal;
graphite has relative atomic mass
Ar =12.0107, density 2.267 g/cm3 ,
melting point 4492 ℃, sublimation
point 3842 ℃, crustal average abun­
dance 200 mg/kg and ocean abun­
dance 20 mg/L; graphite is often se­
lected as a moderator and reflector
material due to a relatively high mi­
croscopic cross section for scattering
(σs = 4.75 b) and low for absorption
(σa = 0.0034 b) for thermal neutrons
→ element; moderator D Kohlenstoff F car-
bone Pl węgiel Sv kol
Carlson SN method →discrete ordi­
nates method
Carnot cycle th • closed series of
reversible thermodynamic processes
proposed by Nicolas Carnot in 1824,
consisting of two reversible isother­
mal processes and two isentropic pro­
cascade cermet fuel

cesses; C.c. is the most efficient the­ the Fahrenheit scale: [°F] = [℃]× 95 +
oretical cycle for converting a given 32 → degree Celsius; absolute temperature;
amount of thermal energy into work Fahrenheit (temperature) scale; kelvin D
in a heat engine; the efficiency of the Celsius-Temperaturskala F échelle de tem­
C.c. is given as a ratio of the work per­ pérature Celsius Pl skala (temperatur) Cel­
formed by the engine to the heat sup­ sjusza Sv Celsius-skala
plied by the high-temperature heat cementation wst • binding of ra­
source; it can be shown that the ef­ dioactive wastes by infusing them in
ficiency depends on the temperatures cement → radioactive waste D Zemen­
of the heat source TH and the heat tierung F cimentation Pl cementowanie Sv
sink TL as η = 1 − TL /TH → Brayton cementingjutning; cementering
cycle; Rankine cycle; reversible process D cent rph • (in reactor physics:) one
Carnot-Prozess F cycle de Carnot Pl obieg of the units of reactivity, defined as
Carnota Sv Carnot-processen 1/100-th of a dollar → dollar; reactivity;
cascade nf • (in isotope separation:) pcm D Cent F cent Pl cent Sv cent
several separative elements or stages centigrade scale →Celsius (tempera­
coupled in such a way that the separa­ ture) scale
tion effect of a single element or stage centrifugal process nf • process of
is multiplied → isotope separation; sepa­ separation of fluid or gaseous mix­
rative element; stage D Kaskade F cascade tures of isotopes using centrifuges →
Pl kaskada Sv kaskad isotope separation D Zentrifugenverfahren
cascade tails assay nf • concen­ F centrifugation Pl proces wirówkowy Sv
tration of one or several isotopes in centrifugprocess
a cascade tail → cascade; tail D Ab­ ceramic fuel nf • nuclear fuel con­
streifkonzentration einer Kaskade F teneur sisting of a ceramic material, e.g.,
de rejet d’une cascade Pl koncentracja an oxide or a carbide; oxide fuels
resztkowa w kaskadzie Sv resthalt för en (U,Pu)O2 demonstrate very satisfac­
kaskad tory dimensional and radiation sta­
cave →hot cell bility, as well as chemical compati­
cell correction factor rph • fac­ bility with cladding and coolant ma­
tor introduced to correct calculations terials, but have rather low thermal
of certain reactor parameters result­ conductivity and low fissile atom den­
ing from simplification of the reactor sity; carbide fuels (U,Pu)C have rel­
cell’s shape → reactor cell D Zellkorrek­ atively high density and good ther­
turfaktor F facteur de correction de cellule mal conductivity, but not very good
Pl komórkowy współczynnik korekcji Sv cel­ radiation stability and may cause the
lkorrektionsfaktor cladding carburization → nuclear fuel
Celsius (temperature) scale th • D keramischer Brennstoff F combustible
(also referred to as the centigrade céramique Pl paliwo ceramiczne Sv keram­
scale, denoted ℃:) temperature scale bränsle; keramiskt bränsle
used by the International System of cermet fuel nf • nuclear fuel con­
Units SI with the degree Celsius as sisting of a mixture of a ceramic and
a derived unit of temperature; a con­ a metallic material, which both con­
version from the C.t.s. to the Kelvin tain a fissile material; the minimum
scale is: [K] = [℃] + 273.15, and to amount of the required non-heavy

25
chain decay Cherenkov radiation

metal is normally high, which makes chemical and volume control sys­
the c.f. unattractive for large-scale re­ tem rcs • (abbreviated CVCS:) sys­
actor applications → nuclear fuel D tem connected to the primary-coolant
Kermet-Brennstoff F combustible cermet Pl circuit of a pressurized water reac­
paliwo ceramiczno-metalowe; paliwo cermet­ tor that consists of three separate
alowe Sv kermetbränsle sub-systems, which fulfill the follow­
chain decay rdy • successive radioac­ ing functions: 1) coolant make-up in
tive decays, which create a decay the primary system, whose volume
chain → radioactive decay; decay chain D can change due to controlled leak­
Kettenzerfall F désintégration en chaîne Pl ages, 2) removal of various metallic
rozpad łańcuchowy Sv kedjesönderfall oxides from the coolant, 3) control
Chalk River unidentified deposit (increase or decrease) of the boric
→crud acid concentration in the primary
channeling effect nap • increased circuit; the c.v.c.s. can serve as a
transmission of radiation in a sub­ high-pressure injection system in case
stance due to sprawled holes or other of loss-of-coolant accident → primary­
areas with reduced damping of radi­ coolant circuit; boron control; loss-of-coolant
ation → radiation D Kanaleffekt F ef­ accident D Volumenregelungssystem F cir­
fet de canalisation Pl efekt kanałowy Sv cuit de contrôle chimique et volumétrique Pl
kanalverkan układ uzupełniania i regulacji chemicznej Sv
channel power nf • power generated volymreglersystem
from a nuclear fuel in a certain cool­ chemical dosimeter rdp • dosime­
ing channel → nuclear fuel D Kanalleis­ ter containing a chemical substance
tung F puissance de canal Pl moc kanału Sv which undergoes a measurable chem­
kanaleffekt ical transformation when irradiated
1
charge →fuel charge → dosimeter; irradiation D chemis­
charge nf • to introduce nuclear fuel
2 ches Dosimeter F dosimètre chimique Pl
into a reactor core → fuel charge; fuel dozymetr chemiczny Sv kemisk dosimeter
charging machine D laden F charger Pl ład­ chemical element →element
ować Sv ladda chemical shimming roc • reactivity
charger-reader rdp • apparatus for compensation in a nuclear core by us­
reading, and in some cases, for charg­ ing chemical compounds that absorb
ing of a pen dosimeter → pen dosime­ neutrons; chemical compounds can be
ter D Dosimeter-Auflade- und Ablesegerät dissolved in a liquid coolant, a liquid
F chargeur-lecteur Pl ładowarka-czytnik moderator or any other liquid present
(dawkomierza piórowego) Sv penndosime­ in the core → reactivity; absorption con­
teravläsare trol; boron control; fuel control; moderator
charging pump rcs • (in pressurized control; recirculation control; reflector con­
water reactors:) pump in the chemi­ trol; spectral shift control D chemisches
cal and volume control system used Trimmen F compensation chimique Pl reg­
for coolant make-up in the primary- ulacja chemiczna Sv kemisk styrning
coolant system → chemical and volume Cherenkov radiation rd • elec­
control system; coolant make-up; primary- tromagnetic radiation created when
coolant system D Ladepumpe F pompe de charged particles move in a sub­
charge Pl pompa napełniająca Sv laddpump stance with a velocity greater than

26
Chernobyl nuclear accident clean

the radiation phase velocity in the 3×10−4 mg/L; isotope 51 Cr can be

same substance; the C.r. can be ob­ activated with neutrons → element D
served as a weak bluish white glow Chrom F chrome Pl chrom Sv krom
in pool reactors and in spent fuel Ci →curie
pools, where decaying fission prod­ CIM →thermal conductivity
ucts are releasing high-energy elec­ circumferential ridging nf • neck­
trons (beta radiation) → beta radia­ ing of fuel pellets with ceramic fuel
tion D Tscherenkow-Strahlung F rayon­ due to strong temperature gradients
nement Tcherenkov Pl promieniowanie Cz­ → fuel pellet; ceramic fuel D Bambusef­
erenkowa Sv Tjerenkovstrålning fekt F effet bambou Pl efekt bambusowy Sv
Chernobyl nuclear accident rs • bambueffekt
nuclear accident that took place in cladding nf • sealed casing of a
Chernobyl nuclear power plant in nuclear fuel, which is intended to
Ukraine on 26th of April 1986; due to prevent chemical reactions between
a number of wrong steps undertaken the fuel and coolant and to re­
during an experiment conducted at tain radioactive fission products in­
the plant, the power of the reactor side the fuel; in light-water reactors,
suddenly increased leading to a fire in fuel pellets are stacked inside the
the graphite moderator and a release cladding, which has the form of a tube
of a large amount of radioactive fis­ made of a zirconium alloy → nuclear
sion products to the atmosphere; the fuel; fuel pellet; fission product; zirconium;
accident was classified as level 7 (the zircaloy D Brennstoffhülle; Brennstoffhülse
highest one) on the INES scale → F gaine; gaine libre Pl koszulka paliwowa Sv
INES; Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident; bränslekapsel; kapsel2
Three Mile Island nuclear accident D Nuk­ cladding waste wst • radioactive
learkatastrophe von Tschernobyl F catastro­ waste that mainly consists of chopped
phe nucléaire de Tchernobyl Pl awaria w cladding → cladding; radioactive waste D
Czarnobylu Sv Tjernobylolyckan Hülsenabfall F déchets de dégainage; déchets
CHF →critical heat flux de gaine; coques Pl odpad koszulek pali­
chop and leach nf • way of prepara­ wowych Sv kapselavfall
tion of the spent fuel to fuel reprocess­ Clapeyron’s equation of state
ing through chopping fuel assemblies →ideal gas law
into parts and then selectively dissolv­ classified area rdp • area in a nu­
ing the fuel material through leaching clear installation, in which a radioac­
with acid → spent fuel; fuel assembly; fuel tive material can be stored or radia­
reprocessing D Zerschneiden und Auslau­ tion work can be performed; due to
gen F tronc˛onnage-dissolution Pl cięcie i łu­ radiation protection reasons in the
gowanie Sv kapning och lakning c.a., special rules apply for the ac­
chromium mat • chemical ele­ cess, clothes, eating, etc. → nuclear in­
ment denoted Cr, with atomic num­ stallation; radioactive material; unclassified
ber Z=24, relative atomic mass area; radiation work D klassifizierter Bere­
Ar =51.9961, density 7.15 g/cm3 , ich F zone classée Pl strefa sklasyfikowana
melting point 1907 ℃, boiling point Sv zonindelat område; klassat område
2671 ℃, crustal average abundance clean rph • (about nuclear reactor:)
102 mg/kg and ocean abundance without fission products and with no

27
clearance Colburn correlation

induced radioactivity → fission product; with a gradual decrease of the reac­

induced radioactivity D sauber F propre Pl tor power due to loss of reactivity of
czysty; niezatruty Sv ren; oförgiftad the reactor core → stretch-out; fuel cy­
clearance nf • (also called gap:) cle D Streckbetrieb F prolongation de cycle
space between the fuel pellet and the Pl reaktywnościowy wybieg reaktora Sv ut­
inner surface of the cladding in a fuel bränningsbetingad effektnedgång
element → fuel pellet; cladding; fuel el­ coated particle nf • corn of a
ement D Spalt F jeu Pl szczelina Sv fissile or a fertile material with a
bränslespalt; bränslespel coating to encapsulate fission prod­
cluster control rod roc • (for pres­ ucts, used in, e.g., the TRISO fuel
surized water reactor:) control ele­ → fissile material; fertile material; fis­
ment consisting of neutron-absorbing sion product; TRISO D beschichtetes
rods connected together on one side Brennstoffteilchen; beschichtetes Teilchen F
and inserted into empty positions in a particule enrobée Pl ziarno paliwa otulone
certain fuel assembly in a reactor core Sv belagt bränslekorn; belagt korn
→ control element; fuel assembly D Fin­ cobalt mat • chemical element de­
gersteuerstab F faisceau de barres de com­ noted Co, with atomic number Z=27,
mande Pl wiązka prętów regulacyjnych Sv relative atomic mass Ar =58.933200,
fingerstyrstav density 8.86 g/cm3 , melting point
Co →cobalt 1495 ℃, boiling point 2927 ℃, crustal
coarse control element roc • con­ average abundance 25 mg/kg and
trol element for coarse adjustment ocean abundance 2×10−5 mg/L; c.
of a reactor core reactivity or for a should be avoided in construction ma­
change of the neutron flux density dis­ terials since 59 Co (with natural abun­
tribution → control element; neutron flux dance 100%) transforms into long-
density D Grobsteuerelement F élément lived (5.3y half-life) radioactive iso­
de réglage grossier Pl element do regulacji tope 60 Co after irradiation with neu­
zgrubnej Sv grovstyrelement trons → element; induced radioactivity; ra­
coarse control member →coarse dioactive half-life D Cobalt F cobalt Pl
control element kobalt Sv kobolt
coarse control rod roc • rod-shaped Colburn correlation th • experi­
coarse control element → coarse control mental correlation used to determine
element D Grobsteuerstab F barre de com­ the Stanton number as a function
pensation Pl pręt do regulacji zgrubnej Sv of the Reynolds and Prandtl num­
grovstyrstav bers; the correlation is valid for tur­
coastal siting gnt • siting of a nu­ bulent heat transfer to non-metallic
clear installation close to a coast to liquids and gases in round tubes and
allow usage of the sea for both cooling is given as: St = 0.023 Re−0.2 Pr2/3 ,
and transportation → off-shore siting D where St is the Stanton number, Re
Verlegung an der Küste F établissement sur is the Reynolds number and Pr is
la côte Pl lokalizacja przybrzeżna Sv kust­ the Prandtl number; the C.c. is valid
förläggning when L/D > 60, Re> 104 and 0.7 <
coast-down roc • (based on economic Pr < 160, where L is the distance
considerations:) extension of a length to the tube entrance and D is the
of fuel cycle beyond the nominal one, tube diameter → Dittus-Boelter corre­

28
Another random document with
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drawn over much that was grotesque and ghastly in the popular
superstition. Even Homer reveals forms of terror in Hades; and we
have ugly tales of demons sucking blood, and ravaging the land like
the Ποινή of Megara. It is not necessary to labour this point.
Probably every ancient race has been sorely tried at one time or
other by the burden of demonology; even our hardy ancient kinsmen
of Iceland had their vampires and strangling ghosts, that figure
occasionally in their saga. But the great peoples of our Western
civilisation are those who have struggled free from this obsession
into the light of progressive secular life. Such also—we have the
right to believe—was the early Greek. To draw the distinction too
sharply between the cultured and the uncultured strata may be a
source of fallacy, especially when it is ancient Hellas that we are
dealing with, where the artist was usually a man of the people and
the people certainly delighted in the work of their poets, and were
strangely susceptible to the healing influences of music. If Greek
poetry, then, and art strove to banish the ugliest forms of the demon-
world, and thereby worked with purifying and tranquillising influence
on the temperament, so much the better for the Greek peasant. It is
probably wrong, therefore, to regard the average Hellene as a
nightmare-ridden man. But we might dare to say this of the
Babylonian; and his imaginary terrors were fostered by his religious
liturgical poetry, and to some extent by his art. For most of his hymns
are formulae of exorcisms, incantations against demons and
spectres. But such liturgy played relatively a very small part in Greek
ritual; and this is one of the strongest facts that can be brought to
witness against the theory of early Babylonian influence.
Yet both the Greek and the Babylonian feared the miasma of the
dead. Ishtar’s threats at the portal of Hell, a tremendous outburst of
infernal poetry, is a strong witness to this feeling: “Thou warder, open
thy door, open thy door that I may enter in. If thou openest not thy
door that I may not enter, I will crash thy door into splinters, I will
burst the bolt, I will splinter the threshold and tear up the wings of the
door: I will lead forth the dead that they shall eat and drink: the dead
shall keep company with the living.” What lends part of its force to
this great passage is the dreadful thought that the living should be
haunted by the multitude of the ghosts that would pollute the living
person and the light of day.
Shamash the sun-god is the natural enemy of ghosts, and is
therefore appealed to in the incantation quoted just above to drive
away the demon-spectres. He seems to stand here in the same
relation of antipathy to the ghost-world as the “pure” Apollo stood for
the Greek.
The mode and the place of burial will often throw light on the
feelings of the living in regard to the departed. The peoples of the
Minoan-Mycenaean culture interred their dead, Homeric society
cremated them, while the recent excavations have revealed that both
systems were in vogue side by side throughout an indefinite period
in Mesopotamia;208.1 and such being the facts, we cannot safely
deduce from them any marked difference in spiritual beliefs. More
illuminating is the fact that the pre-Homeric society in Greek lands
appears generally to have buried its dead in or near their habitations,
as if they desired the companionship of the spirits, agreeing in this
respect with the people of Gezer in Palestine.209.1 In Mesopotamia,
though in very ancient times the dead were sometimes buried in
temples, the fashion generally prevailed of establishing a necropolis
outside the city, as was the rule also in post-Homeric Greece. This
difference alone suggests that the fear of the ghost was less
powerful in pre-Homeric Greece than in Mesopotamia.
It is clear, however, that the Babylonian, like the Hellene, desired
at times to enter into communion with the departed family-ghost; for
in Mesopotamia, as in Hellas, we have clear trace of “parentalia,”
communion-meals to which the ancestral spirits were invited to feast
with the family. In the Babylonian phrase this was called “breaking
bread with” the dead:209.2 the parallel facts in Hellas are familiar to
students.
Moreover, a certain general resemblance in the funeral
ceremonies can be detected between the Eastern and Western
peoples whom we are comparing. When we examine these, we
discover that neither the Homeric nor the Babylonian epic-picture of
the desolateness and futility of the life in Hades corresponded
altogether with the popular faith as expressed in tomb-ritual. It is true
to say of all races that burial customs and eschatological theory are
never wholly harmonised by any coherent logic, and generally reveal
discord between the dogma and the ritual. We can note this in
ancient Hellas and among ourselves; and the discovery of
Babylonian graves reveals it in Mesopotamia. The things found in
these, toys for children, cosmetics for girls,209.3 show that the ideas
so powerfully expressed in “The Descent of Ishtar” about the
barrenness and nakedness of the land of the dead were either not
universally admitted or not acted upon.
Those who equip the dead with some of the things that were of
use and delight to the living must believe that the departed soul
preserves a certain energy and power of enjoyment, though a
gloomy poet among them may enlarge impressively on the
emptiness of death. The unknown Assyrian king who describes in an
inscription the sumptuous burial that he gave his father may not have
been of the same mind as the poet of the Ishtar-epic concerning the
laws of the Queen of Hell:

“Within the grave

The secret place
In kingly oil
I gently laid him.
The grave-stone
Marketh his resting-place.
With mighty bronze
I sealed its [entrance],
I protected it with an incantation.
Vessels of gold and silver,
Such as my father loved,
All the furniture that befitteth the grave,
The due right of his sovereignty,
I displayed before the Sun-God,
And beside the father who begat me,
I set them in the grave.
Gifts unto the princes,
Unto the spirits of the earth
And unto the gods who inhabit the grave,
I then presented.”210.1
 What is the meaning of the act of exposing the gold and silver
vessels to the sun-god Shamash before placing them on the grave?
Was it done to purify them by the aspect of the pure god and thus to
fit them for the use of the glorified dead? The evidence of the
deification of kings has been collected above. But the ceremony in
question is unique, as far as I am aware.
No doubt in ordinary Semitic burials there was great variety in the
grave-offerings: in the graves of Gezer in Palestine, weapons,
jewels, ostrich-eggs, seals, scarabs, amulets, small figures in human
or animal form have been found.211.1
In these practices the primitive Hellene and Semite were on the
same level, nor is it likely that either was the pupil of the other. One
important difference, important at least for our purpose, we can
mark, which is connected with the difference between Hellenic and
Oriental climate. The Hellenic ghost might take water among his
offerings, and the neglected soul might be pitied for being
ἄνυδρος211.2; he might also eat his porridge in the Anthesteria; but
he preferred wine, and the offerings of blood—the αἱμακουρία—and
especially the sacrifice of animals. And we may gather from the
painting on the Phaistos sarcophagus that the blood-oblation to the
dead was part of the pre-Hellenic ritual in Crete. The triple-libation,
also, that Homer mentions, of wine, honey-mead, and water, and
which the later Greeks retained, may be regarded as a Minoan
tradition, for its great antiquity among the Aegean people is attested
by the libation-table found by Sir Arthur Evans in the cave of Zeus on
Mount Dickte. Here there is no trace of the teaching of the
Babylonian priest: nor in the blood-offerings to the dead. For the
Babylonian ghost, parched with thirst in the intolerable heat of
Mesopotamia, craved not blood—which, as far as I know, is never
mentioned in the description of his funeral-rites—but beer in the
earliest period,212.1 and in the later specially water. It is water that
was supposed to make the deceased comparatively happy:

“On a couch he lieth

And drinketh pure water,
The man who was slain in battle.
His father and his mother [support] his head,
 And his wife [kneeleth] at his side.”212.2

This is the lore that in the Epic of Gilgamesh is imparted to the

hero by the ghost of his beloved Eabani, concerning the advantages
of the man who gets due burial over him whose corpse is thrown out
into the field, and whose soul wanders restlessly eating “the dregs of
the vessel, the leavings of the feast, and that which is cast out upon
the street.”
The spirit’s need of water has been an ancient tradition of Semitic
grave-tendance. It is expressed on one of the cylinders of
Gudea;212.3 and in the Curse of Hammurabi, which is a postscript to
his code of laws, he swears that if a man breaks them “his spirit in
the world below shall lack water.”212.4 Clay-cylinders in the museums
of Paris and Berlin, that doubtless come from Mesopotamian graves,
contain inscriptions expressing a blessing on the man who respects
the dead, “may his departed spirit in the world below drink clear
water.”212.5 The old idea survives in the belief of modern Islam that
the soul of the dead yearns for nothing so much as that the rains or
dews of heaven should fall refreshingly on the grave.
These simple differences in the oblations incline us to suppose
that the primitive grave-ritual of Greece was developed
independently of Babylon.
Again, in Greece this tendance of the spirits, in the case of the
great ones of the community—the king, the hero, or the priest—was
undoubtedly linked at an early period with apotheosis of the dead;
and actual hero-cults and actual cults of ancestors became, as we
have seen, a salient phenomenon of Greek religion.
But if this phenomenon is to be noted at all in the Babylonian, it
certainly was not salient. We know that under certain circumstances
the king might be worshipped in his lifetime and after, but we do not
yet know that the departed head or ancestor of the family received
actual cult; where this is asserted by modern scholars,213.1 it may be
that they have not paid sufficient attention to the important difference
that has been defined between the tendance and the worship of the
dead.213.2 This at all events, on the evidence already placed before
us, may be said: in respect of the frequency and force of hero-
worship, Mesopotamia stands at the opposite pole to Greece, and in
testing the question of primitive religious influences of East on West
this fact must be weighed in the scale.
Evidence has been adduced pointing to an early Greek belief that
the spirit of the departed ancestor might reincarnate itself in a
descendant: a belief fairly common among savage peoples. I have
not been able to find any indication of it in Babylonian records, nor
am I aware of any trace of it among other Semitic peoples except,
possibly, a late Phoenician inscription from the tomb of Eshmunazar,
King of Sidon about B.C. 300: in the curse which he invokes against
the violator of his tomb he prays that such a man’s posterity may be
rooted out: “May they have no root in the world below, nor fruit
above, nor any bloom in the life under the sun.”214.1 These strange
words contain the idea of a family-tree; the fruit and the bloom are
the living members who are in the light of the sun: the root are the
ancestral spirits. If the figure is to be interpreted literally, we must
regard these latter as the source of the life that is on the earth, and
the curse would mean “may the departed ancestors no longer have
the power to reappear in the living.” But we cannot feel sure how
much sense we can press into the words.
So far, it appears that there was little or no communion according
to Babylonian belief between the dead and the living, except at the
family sacramental meal held after the funeral. Only the vexed and
neglected soul of the unburied or the unhallowed dead returned to
disturb the living. And perhaps at times the Babylonians, as the
Israelites, resorted to “necromancy,” the evocation of the dead by
spells, so as to question them concerning the future. One evidence
of this is the passage in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where the hero is
able to evoke the spectre of his friend Eabani and question it. This
was probably suggested by an actual practice, which is attested by
such priestly titles as “he who leads up the dead,” “he who questions
the dead.”214.2 In ancient Greece we have the further evidence,
which is lacking in the Babylonian record, of actual νεκυομαντεῖα or
shrines where the dead were consulted, and some of these may
have descended from the pre-Homeric period; for the evocation of
ghosts seems to have been specially practised in Arcadia, where so
much primitive lore survived.
 As regards the higher eschatology, it would seem that the
Babylonian of the earlier period had not advanced even as far as the
Homeric, possibly the pre-Homeric, Greek. For even in Homer’s
picture of Hades and the after-life215.1 there already is found this
important trait—certain notorious sinners are punished, certain
privileged persons like Menelaos may be wafted to blessedness;
while in Hesiod the idea is outspoken that many of the righteous and
distinguished men of the past enjoy a blessed lot hereafter.215.2
Moreover, this important dogma of posthumous punishments and
rewards is not confined to the world of mythic fancy in the Homeric
epic, to personages such as Tantalos, Tityos, Menelaos: the average
man in the Homeric period might not hope for happiness after death;
but if Homer is his spokesman he could fear special punishment, and
the threat of it was already a moral force.
There are two striking passages in the Iliad, of which the
importance for our present question is often ignored: in iii. 278 there
is reference to the two divinities whom, with Aristarchus, we must
interpret as Hades and Persephone, who punish oath-breakers after
death: in xix. 259 the same function of executing judgment in the
nether world upon the souls of the perjured is ascribed to the
Erinyes: the context in both passages suggests that the poet is
giving voice to a common popular belief.
And in regard to posthumous happiness, early Greece may have
believed more than Homer reports. For who can determine how early
this eschatologic hope came into the Eleusinian mysteries?
The “threats of hell and hopes of Paradise” were never wholly
moralised even by later Greek thought; but here are the germs
discernible in the earliest stage of the religion from which a higher
moral teaching and a new moral force might emanate. But those who
have tried to discover similar ideas in the records of Babylonian
eschatology have hitherto entirely failed. Certain phrases and certain
mythic data may be, and have been, pressed to support the theory
that Babylonian religion and ethics were not without some belief in
judgment and resurrection;216.1 but it is overpressure, and the
phrases may easily be misunderstood. No clear evidence points to
Babylonian belief in posthumous judgment; the title “god of
judgment” attached to Nergal might have merely a political
significance. Again, “awakener of the dead” is a fairly frequent
epithet of many divinities; but no context where it occurs suggests for
it an eschatologic intention.216.2 In the story of Adapa, much of which
is recovered from the Tel-El-Amarna tablets, we find reference to the
“Food of Life” and the “Water of Life,”216.3 that the God of Heaven
might have given to Adapa and thereby made him immortal; and in
the story of Ishtar’s descent, it is said that Allatu kept the waters of
life in hell wherewith Ishtar was restored. But nowhere as yet has
any hint been found that these waters of life were available for any
mortal man, and even Adapa, the son of a god, missed getting them.
In the mythology of Babylon only one mortal, Utnapishtim, the
Babylonian Noah, passes without death to some happy land and
becomes immortal; after the deluge Bel spake thus: “Hitherto hath
Utnapishtim been of mankind, but now let Utnapishtim be like unto
the gods, even us, and let Utnapishtim dwell afar off at the mouth of
the river.”217.1 Again, as the kings might be considered divine in life,
there was no difficulty in supposing that they joined the company of
the gods after death, as was supposed in Egypt. The prayers offered
to deities of the lower world by the Assyrian king on behalf of his
father, in the tablet quoted above, may be thus explained; the nether
powers are entreated to offer no obstacles to his apotheosis. Other
Semitic nations may have had the same belief concerning the future
blessedness of the king; at least an inscription of King Panammu of
North Syria, vassal of Tiglath-Pileser III., points to this, for his
successor is urged to pray that “the soul of Panammu shall eat and
drink with the good Adad.”217.2
But no evidence has as yet been gathered that the ordinary
Babylonian expected any such distinguished lot. Nor does it appear
that prayers were ever offered for his soul, as they might be for the
king’s, and as they habitually were for the ordinary Athenian’s in the
Anthesteria. For the Babylonian, on the whole, the only distinction of
lot between one person and another after death was between him
whose ghost was well cared for by surviving relatives and him who
died an outcast and was neglected. And this was no moral
distinction, nor one that was likely to engender the belief in a
righteous judgment. The duty to the dead was a family duty merely;
nor can I find in the Mesopotamian records any indication of that
tender regard of the alien dead which leads in Greece to a certain
higher morality, and which informs Homer’s pregnant phrase—“it is
not righteous to vaunt oneself over the slain.” We find Assyrian kings
revenging themselves by mutilation and exposure of their enemies’
corpses;218.1 and Semitic ferocity and Hellenic αἰδώς are nowhere
more vividly contrasted than in this matter.
Finally, there appears a difference in character between the
Mesopotamian and the Hellenic deities who were concerned with the
surveillance of the world below. In the religion of the Western people,
the latter are as essentially concerned with life as with death; and
Demeter, Kore-Persephone, Plouton, Zeus Χθόνιος, are benign
divinities whose sombre character is only the reverse of the picture;
there is a chance of development for a more hopeful creed when the
dead are committed to the care of the gentle earth-goddess: and it
was through this double aspect of Demeter-Kore that the
eschatologic promise of the Greek mysteries was confirmed. But the
Babylonian Queen of Hell, Allatu, is wholly repellent in character and
aspect, nor do we find that she was worshipped at all; the only
indication of a softer vein in her is the passage in “The Descent of
Ishtar,” which describes the sorrow of Allatu for the sufferings
brought upon men through the departure of the goddess of life and
love. Nergal, who is probably an usurper of the older supremacy of
Allatu, has indeed a celestial character as the upper god of Kutha,
but even in the upper world his nature was regarded as terrible and
destructive. Only once or twice is the gentler Greek conception
concerning the rulers of the lower world found in Babylonian
literature.219.1 Enmesharra—a name that may be a synonym for
Nergal219.2—is hailed as “Lord of Earth, of the land from which none
returns (Aralu), great Lord, without whom Ningirsu allows nothing to
sprout in field and canal, no growth to bloom.”219.3 Tammuz himself
also is once at least styled “the Lord of the lower world.”219.4 And if
Ningirsu is another name of the underworld-god, which is possible, it
is significant that in an old Babylonian document the cultivator of the
soil is called “the servant of Ningirsu.”219.5 These isolated utterances,
if they had penetrated the popular religious thought, might have
engendered a softer and brighter sentiment concerning the world of
death. But it is doubtful if they were potent enough to effect this.219.6
If the gentle Tammuz had displaced Allatu and Nergal as the Lord of
death, Babylonian eschatology might have had a different career.
But it does not appear that he ever did. Deeply beloved as he was,
he never reached the position of a high god either in heaven or the
lower world.219.7 Nor did his resurrection from the dead evoke any
faith, as far as we see at present, that might comfort the individual
concerning his own lot. The personality and the rites of Attis, “the
Phrygian shepherd,” are closely akin to those of Tammuz, and may
be partly of Babylonian origin: and from these were evolved a higher
eschatologic theory that became a powerful religious force in later
Paganism. On the other hand, in Babylonia the germs of higher
religion in the Tammuz-ritual seem to have remained unquickened;
possibly because they were not fostered and developed by any
mystic society. For it is perhaps the most salient and significant
difference between Hellenic and Mesopotamian religions that in the
latter we have no trace of mysteries at all, while in the former not
only were they a most potent force in the popular religion, but were
the chief agents for developing the eschatologic faith.
This exposition of the Eastern and Western ideas concerning
death and the ritual of the dead is merely a slight sketch of a great
subject; but may serve the present purpose, the testing the question
of early religious contact. We have noted much general
resemblance, but only such as is found among various races of the
world: on the other hand, certain striking differences, both in detail
and general conception, that argue strongly against the theory of
contact or borrowing in the second millennium. Nor can we discover
in the earliest Greek mythology a single Mesopotamian name or
myth associated with the lower world.220.1
 CHAPTER XIII.
Babylonian, Anatolian, and Aegean Ritual.

A comparison of the forms observed in these regions, both in

regard to the minute details and to the general underlying ideas,
ought to contribute independent evidence to the solution of our
question. The transmission of precise rules of ritual from one people
to another, implies an intercourse of some duration, and more or less
regulated; for while the name of a god or a single myth is volatile,
and can be wafted down remote routes by an itinerant trader, or
nomad, or hunter, the introduction of any organised ritual implies, as
a rule, the presence of the missionary or the foreign priest. If, then,
there is any evidence suggesting that Greece in its earliest period
learnt its ritual from Babylon, the importance of this for the ethnic
history of religion will be great indeed. Therefore it may seem that a
detailed comparison of the Eastern and Western ritual is forced upon
us at this point: but it would be premature to expect at present any
finality in the result, because the Mesopotamian documents have
only been very incompletely examined and published by the
linguistic experts. However, the material that they have presented to
us reveals certain salient facts of immediate value for our present
purpose that cannot be wholly illusory, however much we may have
to modify our interpretation of them in the light of future discovery.
As regards the Greek evidence, we are not without fairly ample
testimony concerning the earliest period. The Homeric poems
present us with the contemporary religious practices of at least a
portion of the population whom we may conveniently call the
Achaeans; though we have no right to suppose that they give us a
complete account even of those. Again, as ritual does not spring up
in a day, and has a singular longevity, we may be sure that much of
Homeric ritual is a tradition of the second millennium. Furthermore,
we can supplement Homer by later testimony, of which the lateness
of date is no argument against the primitiveness of the fashions that
it may attest.
 The first superficial comparison of Mesopotamian and Aegean
ceremonies exhibits a general similarity in the mechanism of religion;
an established priesthood, temples, images, altars, prayers,
sacrifice, religious music, holy days, consultation of the gods by
methods of divination, a certain ceremonious tendance of the dead,
these are common features of East and West. But if we were
comparing Hellenic with Egyptian or Vedic, or even Mexican and
Peruvian religion, we should be able to point to the same general
agreement in externals, and many of these institutions are found
broadcast over the modern world of savage society. It will be more
important for the present question, if when we examine the
Babylonian, Anatolian, and Hellenic ritual more minutely we discern
salient differences, especially if these are found in certain organic
centres of the religious life such as was the sacrifice. And we must
first try to determine whether the Hellas of the pre-Homeric days
already possessed all those religious institutions roughly enumerated
above. We can deal to some extent with both these problems
together.
The erection of temples is an important stage in the higher
development of anthropomorphic religion. By the beginning of the
second millennium B.C. this had become an immemorial tradition of
Mesopotamia. But we are not sure at what period the other
polytheistic Semites first evolved the architectural shrine, or how
long they were content to use the natural cave as the house of a
divinity, or a high place or “temenos” with altar or sacred pillar. The
recent excavations at Gezer have revealed a glimpse into the
religion of the prehistoric Semites of Canaan; and one shrine that
seems nothing more than a row of sacred monoliths, but also
another that has more the appearance of an elaborate building of a
sacred character.223.1 Of still greater antiquity was the shrine that
Professor Petrie has discovered at Serabit in the Sinaitic peninsula,
an original cave-temple complicated with the addition of porticoes
and chambers, which he believes to have been devoted to a double
cult, the Egyptian and Semitic.223.2 At all events, we may conclude
that before 1000 B.C. most of the more cultured Semitic
communities in Asia Minor had come to house their divinities in more
or less elaborated shrines.
 As regards the other race that dominated the early period of
Anatolian history, the Hittite, we have the priceless evidence of the
Boghaz-Keui monuments: these reveal a complex temple hewn out
of and into the rocky ravine with a “Holy of Holies” and what appears
to be a sleeping-chamber for the god.223.3 In Phrygia, the artificial
shrine may have been late in supplanting the natural cavern or hole
in the rock that was once the sufficient home of the cult of the great
goddess.223.4 From the coast of Asia Minor we have no evidence
concerning the site of any ancient temple that carries us back to the
early period with which we are dealing.224.1 But the Homeric poems
alone are sufficient proof that the Greeks, for whom they were
composed, were beginning to be familiar with some architectural
type of the deity’s habitation. Apollo Smintheus already has his
shrine and professional priest.224.2 We hear of the temple and
priestess of Athena in Troy,224.3 of her shrine at Athens, which she
shared with Erechtheus,224.4 and the stone-threshold of Apollo at
Delphi, that guarded already many treasures within it.224.5 And we
also know from the excavations of the last few years that the Aryan
invaders from the North, the proto-Hellenes, would find temples on
some at least of the sites of the Minoan culture. Crete has preserved
certain shrines of the second millennium; but except the temple-cave
on Dikte all of them so far are found to be merely domestic chapels
in the king’s palace, as though the king were personally responsible
for the religion of the community: and so at Mycenae, Tiryns, and
Athens, the oldest temples have been found on the foundations of
“Mycenaean” palaces.224.6 But the temples of Hera on the public hill
of Argos and at Olympia are now dated near to 800 B.C.224.7
We have, then, proof sufficient of temple-construction in Greece
and the Aegean islands before the period of Homer; and if we must
have recourse to the theory that the peoples of the Minoan-
Mycenaean culture took their cue in this important evolution from
some foreign civilisation, we should look to Egypt rather than to
Assyria, as nearer and more closely in touch with early Crete.
We may mark here a difference between Eastern and Western
thought in the religious conception of the temple. It was naturally
regarded everywhere as sacrosanct, because permeated with the
virtue of the divine presence; but Babylonia developed this idea with
greater intensity of conviction than the Hellene, and actually deified
the temple itself: the King Nabopolassar (circ. 625 B.C.) prays to it in
such words as these, “Oh, temple, be gracious to the king thy
restorer, and if Marduk enters thee in triumph, report my piety to
him.”225.1 Such exaggeration is not found in Greek religion.225.2
As regards the emblem of divinity, the cult-object set up in the
shrine to attract and to mark the presence of the deity, the
Mesopotamian religion had, as we have seen, already evolved the
eikon or image at some period considerably earlier than the second
millennium, and the statue of the god or goddess had become an
important factor of early ritual: only the emblem of Asshur remained
aniconic.225.3 Of equally early vogue was the image, whether human
or theriomorphic, in Egyptian cult. Again, the early Hittite monuments
reveal it clearly, though aniconic fetiches appear also on the reliefs of
Boghaz-Keui. But it is probable that the Western Semites, and the
tribes of Arabia before 1200 B.C., and many of them for centuries
after, preferred the aniconic emblem, the “Ashera” or post, or heap of
stones or pillar, to the iconic statue; in fact, that temple idolatry in its
developed forms as it presents itself in later Mediterranean history
was alien to the old and genuine tradition of Semitic public worship.
Iconic representations of divinities may indeed be found in Western
Semitic regions, and some of these may be of great antiquity; such
as the silver statue that Thutmose III. (of the fifteenth century B.C.)
carried off from Megiddo and the Lebanon,226.1 or the “Astarte”-
plaques found on the site of Gezer.
But in Semitic communities of the earlier period such objects
belonged rather to the private religion, and the public service centred
round the sacred pillar or stone, as was the case at Mecca both
before and after Islam arose: the evidence for this has been carefully
given and estimated by Robertson Smith and Sir Arthur Evans.226.2
The same statement holds of many of the non-Semitic peoples of
Western Anatolia; in Phrygia, for instance, the earliest emblem of
Kybele was the rude pillar or cone-shaped stone, and this survived
down to late times in the worship of the Anatolian goddess in some
of the Greek cities on the Asiatic coast.
 The recent discoveries in the regions of the Minoan and
Mycenaean culture reveal the same phenomenon: the cults in this
area of the Aegean in the second millennium were in the main
aniconic, the favourite emblem being the pillar or tree-trunk, while in
ancient Crete the axe and even the cross has been found.227.1
Where the divinity appears in full human shape, as the snake-
goddess in the chapel of the cross, the lion-guarded goddess or the
god descending in the air above the pillar on the Minoan seals, these
figures cannot, or need not, be interpreted as actual temple-idols.
And students of the religion of classical Greece are familiar with the
ample evidence of the aniconic tradition in the λίθοι ἀργοί, and the
cone-shaped pillars and stocks that served as divine emblems in the
later temples of Greece.227.2
Now the ethnic question concerning pillar-cult has been critically
discussed by Sir Arthur Evans in his treatise mentioned above; and
the conclusion at which he arrives, that the striking parallelisms in
Semitic Anatolian and Aegean ritual monuments are not to be
explained as the result of direct borrowing from one or the other
group of peoples, but as the abiding influence of a very early
Mediterranean tradition, commends itself as the most reasonable. It
is legitimate to maintain that the earliest Hellenes took over much of
this aniconic cult from the earlier Minoan and Mycenaean civilisation;
but we must not overlook the fact that they also possessed their
own, as a tradition derived from Central Europe.227.3 The most futile
hypothesis would be to assume that the early Greeks derived it from
Babylon, where it is less in evidence than in any other Semitic
community.227.4
The iconic impulse whereby the tree-trunk and pillar were
gradually supplanted by the fully human statue was beginning to
work by the time that the Homeric poems received their present
form; for we have in the Iliad228.1 an undoubted reference to a
seated statue of Athena in her temple on the Akropolis of Troy. We
see here the working of an instinct that was partly religious, partly,
perhaps, aesthetic in its origin. If we are to connect it with foreign
influences, Egypt is at least a more “proximate cause” than Babylon.
 This comparison of the cult-objects set up in shrines or holy places
must take into account the phallic emblem also. This was much in
vogue in the worship of Hermes and Dionysos, and was not
unknown even in the ritual of Artemis.228.2 Herodotus maintains that
it was adopted by the Hellenes from “the Pelasgians,” but, as I have
tried to show elsewhere,228.3 we cannot attach real value to his
induction. It may have descended from an old tradition of European
cult, and it was indigenous among other Aryan nations. As regards
the Mediterranean races, we find traces of its use in the
Samothracian mysteries and in the grave-cult of Phrygia; while some
of the records of the Sabazian mysteries suggest that a phallic
character attached to them. The Minoan-Mycenaean culture has
been regarded as innocent of this, since the phallic emblem does not
appear among the monuments yet found; and this opinion is
somewhat corroborated by its absence in the ritual of Aphrodite, who
may be regarded as a direct descendant of the great Cretan
goddess; for only a late and somewhat doubtful text attests the
dedication of phalloi to the Cyprian Aphrodite.229.1 But the evidence
from the Phrygian religion, that has many ethnic affinities with Crete,
and from such ritual-stories as that of Pasiphae, ought to make us
hesitate.
In Semitic ritual the emblem was certainly not commonly in public
use, even if it occurred at all; the evidence for it, at present
forthcoming, is at least very doubtful; two of the pillars found at
Gezer have been supposed to possess phallic attributes;229.2 but
Robertson Smith has well protested against the foolish tendency to
interpret sacred pillars generally as phalloi,229.3 and even regards
Lucian’s assertion of the phallic significance of the two sacred pillars,
each three hundred feet in height, that flanked the propylaea of the
temple at Hierapolis,229.4 as a mistake suggested to him by the later
Hellenic misinterpretation. Other statements of Lucian in that treatise
may cause us to believe that a phallic character attached to some
part of the ritual of the Syrian goddess; but, if it did, we could not
safely regard it as originally Semitic, since so many ethnic strains are
mingled in that complex religion.
 It is doubtful whether we can recognise the emblem anywhere in
the religious monuments of the Hittites, though Perrot would give this
interpretation to one of the cult-objects carved on the relief of
Boghaz-Keui.229.5
Finally, its vogue in Babylonia seems to have been confined to
private superstition; from the second millennium onwards it was
employed as an amulet, and one of the royal chronicles, about 1110
B.C., is inscribed on a tablet that represents a phallos; but we cannot
argue from this or any other evidence yet adduced, so far as I am
aware, that the emblem was used in public ritual.
So far as we can discern at present, then, the Babylonian and
Hellenic phenomena are divergent in respect of pillar-cult and phallic
ritual.230.1
The most interesting part of our present inquiry is the comparison
of the ceremonies and the concept of sacrifice in East and West. At
the first glance we note, as usual, a certain general similarity. In the
earliest period we find various animals, both wild and domestic,
offered upon the altars, but in Babylonia no special rules concerning
their sex, such as were prescribed by ancient Greek and Judaic
ritual. In all these countries, again, bloodless offerings of cereals and
fruits were in common vogue; and in the earliest Babylonian period,
these were of great variety, an inscription of Gudea mentioning
butter, honey, wine, corn with milk, figs, dates, as the food of the
gods, “untouched by fire.”230.2 We note here the distinction familiar in
Greek ritual, between ἔμπυρα and ἄπυρα ἱερά; only in Babylonia it
does not seem to have been of religious importance, nor to have
been developed, as it was in Hellas, into a ceremonial law that might
engender an important variation in the moral ideas and religious
concepts of the worshipper; for instance, the altar of Apollo at Delos
was called καθαρός, “the pure altar,” because no blood could be
shed upon it, the sacrifices of Athena Lindia at Rhodes, and of Zeus
in certain mystic rites of Crete, were ἄπυρα, or “fireless,” which was
the technical name for the oblations of fruits and cereals; and this
fact of ritual suggested to later Greek philosophy the ethical-religious
view that the “pure,” that is to say, bloodless, offering was the more
acceptable oblation, and was a tradition of the age of man’s
innocence. This pregnant idea has not yet been discovered in
Mesopotamian or in any other old Semitic religion; the Babylonian
deities received both kinds, and perhaps simultaneously, though in
certain special ceremonies the sacred cake, or the liquid offerings of
milk, honey, wine, and oil, might suffice;231.1 while, according to the
ancient Hebraic view, as the legend of Cain and Abel indicates, the
deity appears to prefer blood-sacrifice, though each species is
recognised in the pre-exilic sacral literature.231.2
There is another distinction observed in Greek ritual, that becomes
of some importance in the later history of ascetic purity, that between
wineless offerings (νηφάλια) and those accompanied with wine: the
former being preferred by the powers of the lower world,231.3 though
not invariably, and certainly not by the departed hero. However this
distinction arose—and no single hypothesis explains all the cases—it
was not a Semitic tradition, taught in early days to Hellas. For the
Semitic divinities, including Jahwé, have a genial liking for wine
“which cheereth God and man”;232.1 nor have we any Semitic
example of a taboo on it, except possibly a late Nabataean
inscription from the neighbourhood of Palmyra, mentioning “the god
who drinks no wine.”232.2 Such a phrase would certainly not apply to
the deities of Babylon; even the sun-god, who in Hellas appears to
have been a total abstainer, is offered wine in the Babylonian
service,232.3 and, according to one verse in the Epic of Creation, the
deities actually get drunk,232.4 a grossness which, in the mythic
imagination of Hellas, is only imagined as possible for Dionysos.
We have the right to say, then, that the avoidance of wine in
certain religious services of Hellas helps to confirm the impression of
its early independence of Semitic influences. The Hellenic rule may,
in certain cases, have been derived from an older Aegean tradition;
for two of the deities to whom it was applied, Helios and Aphrodite,
may be believed to have been bequeathed to Greece by the Minoan-
Mycenaean religion; and wine appears to have been prohibited in
certain ceremonies of the Phrygian goddess,232.5 and of a goddess
of Caria.232.6
These are differences of some importance, and doubtless of great
antiquity between the ritual of East and West; more insignificant, yet
of considerable value for our present question, is the fact that
incense was a regular accompaniment of the Babylonian sacrifice,
but did not come into religious use in Greece till some time after the
period of Homer. The fact itself we may consider as proved, both by
Homer’s silence about it, and by the Homeric use of the word θύος,
which means “victim,” and never “incense,” as in later Greek it came
to mean. Had the influence of the Mesopotamian culture been as
strong on Greece in the second millennium as it came to be from
800 B.C. onwards, we should certainly have expected that the
religious use of incense, which is very attractive and spreads easily
from one race to another, would have been adopted by Greek ritual
before the time of Homer.
A more essential point is the sharp contrast preserved in the
Greek rites between the Olympian and the Chthonian ritual; a
contrast that demanded a difference of terminology and dictated
different sacral laws concerning time, manner, place of sacrifice, and
choice of victim. So far, I have not been able to discover any hint of
this important bifurcation of ritual in any Mesopotamian record. The
only nether-world power who was worshipped at all was Nergal,
whether under this or other names; and it does not appear that his
worship differed in any essential respect from that of any other high
god. In fact, the dualism between powers of the upper and powers of
the lower world, which has been generally remarked, and sometimes
exaggerated in Hellenic polytheism, only appears slightly in the
Babylonian, and seems to have left no impress on the divine service
at all.
As regards the animals of sacrifice, the only striking divergence
that Hellenic and Semitic custom presents is in respect of the swine.
The sanctity or horror with which this animal was regarded by most
Semitic societies234.1 is not reflected in any record of early Greek
feeling. Being the Hellene’s common food, he offered it freely to the
deity, though in local cults there might occasionally be a taboo on
this as elsewhere on other victims, such as sheep or goat. But it is
possible that some of the predecessors of the Hellene in Crete and
Asia Minor, if not in Greece itself, shared the Semitic sentiment in
regard to the pig; and the reverence paid to it in Crete, and
especially at Praisos in later times,234.2 may have been a legacy of
Minoan religion; also the Carian worship of Hemithea in which swine
were tabooed may have had ancient links with Crete.234.3 But the
facts of swine-sacrifice or swine-reverence, though they serve to
distinguish the Hellenic from the ordinary Semitic community, do not
bear directly on our present problem, the proofs of early
Mesopotamian influence on the proto-Hellenic race. For the usual
Semitic taboo has not yet been found in Mesopotamia. The pig is
mentioned in a religious text as one of the animals that might be
offered to the gods as a vicarious piacular sacrifice, nor is there any
hint that the animal is being offered as an unclean animal.234.4
Certainly, other animals are mentioned much more frequently as
victims; and I am not aware of any other text that mentions swine-
sacrifice. It was associated in some way with the god Ninib, one of
whose appellatives means “swine”;234.5 but no evidence is yet
forthcoming that it was offered to him.