How to Use radioisotope in a Sentence

radioisotope

noun
Definition of radioisotopenext
  • The radioisotope is crucial for fueling long-term deep space missions, but as of 2017, a shortage was on the horizon.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 8 Jan. 2019
  • The three radioisotope generators on ship, which use the slow decay of a lump of plutonium to provide it with electricity, could keep working for decades to come.
    — The Economist, 7 Sep. 2017
  • After being injected with a radioisotope and riding a stationary bike, the young doctor was gentle in the face of discouraging films and old news.
    — Sorayya Khan, Longreads, 8 Feb. 2018
  • Curiously, the radioisotope levels found in Naen island’s soils — located around 100 miles away — were roughly the same as those found at the Castle Bravo explosion site.
    — Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2019
  • Additionally, the rover has eight radioisotope heater units (RHU) in its body providing about 8 watts of thermal energy.
    — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 13 June 2018
  • Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Cassini, and New Horizons all used a radioisotope power source but used hydrazine fuel in a chemical engine that quickly flung them to the far reaches of the solar system.
    — Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2020
  • With a chemical makeup similar to calcium, strontium-90, a radioisotope found in fallout, is easily absorbed in teeth and bones.
    — Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020
  • Revisit the heated and messy history of plutonium-238, from the radioisotope's discovery and use in nuclear batteries for spacecraft to a botched CIA mission and a shortage that threatens to stop deep space exploration.
    — Dave Mosher, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2013
  • But with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) for power, the rover is not in any significant danger.
    — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 13 June 2018
  • As a proof of principle, Cederwall and colleagues focused on detection of californium-252, a readily available radioisotope widely used as a proxy for weapons-grade plutonium.
    — Richard Stone, Science | AAAS, 19 May 2021
  • Though the presence of this radioisotope in sediment does not neatly translate into contamination in soil or food, the finding does suggest the possibility of danger to ecosystems and people.
    — Hart Rapaport, Scientific American, 4 Apr. 2022
  • When a water leak caused by corrosion unexpectedly took the NRU offline later that same year, a global medical radioisotope shortfall ensued.
    — Tim Lougheed, Science | AAAS, 21 Sep. 2017
  • Plutonium-238 is a radioisotope associated with nuclear waste and not generally with fallout, said Ivana Nikolic Hughes, a co-author of the research and an associate professor of chemistry at Columbia.
    — Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2019
  • Because of an editing error, two picture captions with an article last Sunday about the radioisotope Molybdenum-99 referred incorrectly to its role in medical diagnostics.
    — New York Times, 21 Jan. 2018
  • Iodine 131 is a radioisotope created as a result of nuclear fission, which is why scientists believe the radiation release is the result of an accident at a nuclear facility.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 29 June 2020
  • The reactor itself became a globally dominant supplier of radioisotopes—in particular, molybdenum-99, a workhorse of medical imaging employed for millions of scans every year.
    — Tim Lougheed, Science | AAAS, 21 Sep. 2017
  • Others hope to pry out the neutrino's mass by studying nuclei of holmium-163, a synthetic radioisotope, created with particle accelerators, that undergoes a process nearly the opposite of beta decay called electron capture.
    — Adrian Cho, Science | AAAS, 29 June 2017
  • The spacecrafts’ electric power, supplied by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, weakens each day.
    — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2017
  • Personnel remain at the facility, which is used for research, development and radioisotope production for medical and industrial applications.
    — NBC News, 18 Mar. 2022
  • Voyager and many satellites already use radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 9 Feb. 2021
  • Job description: Prepare, administer, and measure radioactive isotopes in therapeutic, diagnostic, and tracer studies using a variety of radioisotope equipment.
    — Zachary Smith, cleveland, 29 Mar. 2022
  • And just like Curiosity, Dragonfly will be nuclear-powered, carrying a radioisotope thermoelectric generator.
    — Shannon Stirone, Scientific American, 27 June 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'radioisotope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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