Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🏭 A safety system 🚒 Keeping under control 🌍 Stopping expansion
containment

containment

114 7.0
A strong structure around a nuclear reactor that stops radioactive leaks
  • noun
  • /kənˈteɪnmənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sistema de contención
  • The engineers are implementing new containment systems to prevent any leaks from the reactor.
  • containment system
  • containment vessel
  • containment structure

The reactor buildings in each case are damaged and the containment vessels in two of those plants are damaged.

Examples

  • Their primary containment vessels, full of liquid, collapsed and leaked into the facility's containment area.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Regular inspections ensure that the containment measures are effective in handling any potential radioactive spills.

  • Please meet your party outside the containment area.

    Men in Black (1997)

  • Can we film in the containment area?

    The China Syndrome (1979)

  • This is why you have to be absolutely sure that your vessel, your primary containment, will survive.

  • Because the containment zone is not a quarantine.

  • The containment tank is destabilizing.

    Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

  • The regulations also specified the degree of containment necessary for certain particularly dangerous genetic engineering experiments.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Virus handling was conducted under enhanced Biosafety Level 3 containment according to institutional guidelines.

    Academic text (2013)

  • After the incident, the facility was upgraded to enhance its containment of hazardous materials.

Antonyms

to release
∞ 1.8

To let someone or something go free from being held

Compounds

ring containment
  • Specialized
7.4

A way to stop disease by giving vaccines to people exposed and their close contacts

How Secure

containment
  • Specialized
114 7.0
shielding
  • Specialized
19 5.0
enclosure
2 4.4

Surface Forms

containment singular
containments plural

Morphology

containment = contain (semi-transparent) = contain + ment

The formation 'contain' + '-ment' is regular and indicates the act or result of containing, but the specific technical sense 'a system to prevent radioactive release' is a specialized application.

Etymology

Containment comes from Latin parts con- 'together' and tenere 'to hold'. Think of a strong box or container that keeps dangerous material inside, so containment is the system that stops radioactive material from escaping.