atomic power
2
3.2
- noun
- /əˈtɑːmɪk ˈpaʊər/
:
energía atómica
- The role of atomic power in reducing carbon emissions has been a topic of much debate among environmentalists.
- atomic power for several years
Examples
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In many countries, atomic power provides a significant portion of the electricity used in homes and businesses.
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The situation with nuclear power is similar: China has 11 atomic power plants now and is in the process of building 20 more, with a target of 60 GW of generating capacity, or possibly more, by 2020.
Blog text (19) -
In all four countries, less than half of the students understood water use in atomic power plants.
Academic text (1996) -
We're just using atomic power for our radar experiments.
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It was a good idea to use atomic power.
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You can't shut down a whole atomic power plant on such a wild theory.
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How else could the world be alerted to the dangers of the use of atomic power?
Fiction book (1990) -
Indeed, throughout this period, atomic power was touted as a permanent source of electricity that would be "too cheap to meter."
Academic text (1999) -
The world's atomic-power plants risk running short of fuel within a decade because uranium suppliers can't build enrichment facilities or recycle Soviet-era warheads fast enough, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Blog text (22) -
Germany decided to phase out atomic power and shift towards renewable energy sources.
Synonyms
119
3.4
Electricity made by using the energy inside atoms for homes and businesses
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'nuclear energy used for electricity' is directly and compositionally derived from 'atomic' (relating to nuclear/atomic energy) + 'power' (energy/electrical supply). This is a regular noun compound with transparent semantics and cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Atomic power comes from the words atomic (about the atom, a very small piece of stuff) and power (energy). When scientists learned how to split an atom, a very large amount of energy came out, and people began using that energy to make electricity. So, atomic power now means 'electricity made by using the energy from atoms'.