TSA offers a glossary to identify industry terms, acronyms, technical phrases, and formulas used in verifying system operations. For more information, contact your TSA representative.
| GLOSSARY OF TERMS |
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TSA Systems Product Specific Terms TSA's commonly used terms |
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Radiological Weapons/Detection Industry words, phrases and acronyms |
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World Nuclear Association technical nuclear fuel terms (link) |
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TSA Formulas used for verifying system operations (pdf) |
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NIST Elemental Data Index access database holdings organized by element (link) |
TSA Systems Product Specific Terms
- ADC:
Analog to Digital Converter is an integrated circuit that converts an analog signal into a binary number that can be used by the microprocessor.
- Background Status:
- High Background Alarm/Fault:
The condition that occurs if the counts exceed the programmed high background level. This condition prevents further operation until the problem is corrected. Normally set in cps. - Low Background Alarm/Fault:
The condition that occurs if the counts fall below the programmed low background level. This condition prevents further operation until the problem is corrected. Usually set in cps. - Rolling Background:
This is the background accumulation method used in most of TSA’s instruments. Background accumulation is done in ten separate buffers, each buffer representing 1/10 of the total background time. As each buffer is filled, the background is updated. This results in a background update at background time/10. Initial background accumulation requires the full background time. - Standard Background:
Standard background requires the full background time for the initial background and updates.
- High Background Alarm/Fault:
- CPS or cps:
Counts Per Second
- LCD:
Liquid Crystal Display
- LED:
Light Emitting Diode
- LLD:
The Lower Level Discriminator provides an adjustable threshold that determines the lowest signal level that will be accepted as a nuclear pulse by the system’s electronics. Some systems have both upper and lower level discriminators that can be used to set a discriminator window. The discriminator window can be used to effectively reduce the background counts, and increase system sensitivity to certain isotopes.
- POST:
Power On Self Test
- ULDS:
The Upper Level Discriminator provides an adjustable threshold that determines the highest signal level that will be accepted as a nuclear pulse by the system’s electronics. Some systems do not have an ULD. Also see LLD.
Radiological Weapons/Detection Industry Terms
- Alpha particles:
Form of ionizing radiation consisting of positively charged particles
- Attenuation:
Reduction in intensity of radiation as it passes through a substance
- Beta particles:
Form of ionizing radiation consisting of negatively charged particles; a high-speed electron
- Decay:
A decrease in the level of radioactivity as fragments decompose to a more stable state
- Dose:
The total amount of ionizing radiation that is absorbed by an object over a specified interval of time
- Dose rate:
The rate at which a radiological dose is received (also referred to as intensity)
- External hazard:
Radiation from a source outside the body that can penetrate the body and pose a rise to internal organs
- Fission:
A nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into the nuclei of lighter elements, releasing tremendous amounts of energy
- Fusion:
A nuclear reaction in which the nuclei of lighter elements are combined with the nucleus of an atom of a heavier element, releasing tremendous amounts of energy (thermonuclear weapons)
- Gamma radiation:
A type of radiation in the form if electromagnetic energy, similar to X-rays
- Half-Life:
The amount of time it takes for the level of radiation from a specified amount of a radioactive material to decrease by one-half
- Initial radiation:
The radiation released during approximately the first minute after a nuclear detonation
- Ion:
An atom or molecule that has either gained or lost an electron
- Kiloton:
Nuclear weapon yield equivalent to the explosive energy released by 1,000 tons of TNT (abbreviated as Kt)
- Megaton:
Nuclear weapon yield equivalent to the explosive energy released by 1 million tons of TNT (abbreviated as Mt)
- Neutron:
A subatomic particle that is essentially neutral
- Rad:
A unit of absorbed radiation dose (from Radiation Absorbed Dose)
- Radiac:
Device used for measuring radioactivity (from Radiation Detection Indication And Computation)
- Residual radiation:
Radiation released after a nuclear explosion (also called fallout)
- Roentgen:
A unit of exposure to gamma or X-ray radiation
- Weathering:
The removal of radiological contamination by the natural action of the environment
The World Nuclear Association publishes a glossary of nuclear fuel terms, which gives definitive explanations of technical words and phrases used in the industry. To view their glossary please visit http://www.world-nuclear.org/education > glossary
TSA uses certain formulas in the systems that they manufacture. These formulas (24K) are available in PDF format. They are provided to assist in verifying system operations and to give customers a better understanding of how the systems operate.
NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology Physics Laboratory provides elemental data index physical reference charts. To access database holdings organized by element please visit http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/contents.html.
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