Meanings
plural nuclear reactors
- natural sciencesAny device in which a controlled chain reaction is maintained for the purpose of creating heat (for power generation) or for creating neutrons and other fission products for experimental, medical or other purposes.
Meronym: control rod
2 more examples
Near-synonym: atomic pile (dated)
Some newspapers in the United States, in Japan, and in South Korea printed photographs of North Korean nuclear reactors and nuclear plants, photos that were said to have been taken by U.S. military satellites. Most of the exposures were from a nuclear research establishment at Ninghian Chun in Pingan Beidao, only 80 km from Pyongyang.
1993 August 9 [1993 April 8], Zhongqing Tian, “Change in Overall Situation on the Korean Peninsula”, in JPRS Report China, number 93-057, United States Joint Publications Research Service, →OCLC, page 7, column 2Synonyms: atomic pile
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny device in which a controlled chain reaction is maintained for the purpose of creating heat (for power generation) or for creating neutrons and other fission products for experimental, medical or other purposes.
More synonyms by meaning
noun(physics) any of several kinds of apparatus that maintain and control a nuclear reaction for the production of energy or artificial elements
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic مُفَاعِل نَوَوِيّ
- مُفَاعِل نَوَوِيّ (mufāʕil nawawiyy)device
Basque erreaktore nuklear
- erreaktore nukleardevice
Bulgarian ядрен реактор
- ядрен реактор (jadren reaktor)device
Catalan reactor nuclear
- reactor nucleardevice
Chinese Cantonese 核反應堆 /核反应堆
- 核反應堆 /核反应堆 (hat⁶ faan² jing³ deoi¹)device
Chinese Mandarin 核反應堆 /核反应堆, 原子爐 /原子炉
- 核反應堆 /核反应堆 (hé fǎnyìngduī)device
- 原子爐 /原子炉 (yuánzǐlú)device
Czech jaderný reaktor
- jaderný reaktordevice
Danish atomreaktor
- atomreaktordevice
Dutch kernreactor
- kernreactordevice
Esperanto nuklea reakciujo, nuklea reaktoro
- nuklea reakciujodevice
- nuklea reaktorodevice
Estonian tuumareaktor
- tuumareaktordevice
Finnish ydinreaktori
- ydinreaktoridevice
French réacteur nucléaire
- réacteur nucléairedevice
German Kernreaktor, Kernmeiler
- Kernreaktordevice
- Kernmeilerdevice
- Atomreaktordevice
- Atommeilerdevice
Greek πυρηνικός αντιδραστήρας
- πυρηνικός αντιδραστήρας (pyrinikós antidrastíras)device
Hebrew כור גרעיני
- כור גרעיני (kur garení)device
Hindi परमाणु भट्ठी, नाभिकीय भट्ठी
- परमाणु भट्ठी (parmāṇu bhaṭṭhī)device
- नाभिकीय भट्ठी (nābhikīya bhaṭṭhī)device
Hungarian atomreaktor
- atomreaktordevice
Icelandic kjarnaofn, kjarnakljúfur
- kjarnaofndevice
- kjarnakljúfurdevice
Indonesian reaktor nuklir
- reaktor nuklirdevice
Italian reattore nucleare
- reattore nuclearedevice
Japanese 原子炉
- 原子炉 (genshiro)device
Korean 원자로
- 원자로 (wonjaro)device
Latvian kodolreaktors
- kodolreaktorsdevice
Lithuanian branduolinis reaktorius
- branduolinis reaktoriusdevice
Malay reaktor nuklear
- reaktor nukleardevice
Norwegian Bokmål atomreaktor, kjernereaktor
- atomreaktordevice
- kjernereaktordevice
Persian رآکتور هستهای, واکنشگاه هستهای
- رآکتور هستهای (re-âktor-e haste-'i)device
- واکنشگاه هستهای (vâkonešgâh-e haste-'i)device
Polish reaktor jądrowy
- reaktor jądrowydevice
Portuguese reator nuclear
- reator nucleardevice
Romanian reactor nuclear
- reactor nucleardevice
Russian я́дерный реа́ктор
- я́дерный реа́ктор (jádernyj reáktor)device
Slovak jadrový reaktor
- jadrový reaktordevice
Spanish reactor nuclear
- reactor nucleardevice
Swedish kärnreaktor
- kärnreaktordevice
Tagalog tambisaan, reaktor nuklear
- tambisaandevice
- reaktor nukleardevice
Tamil அணுக்கரு உலை
- அணுக்கரு உலை (aṇukkaru ulai)device
Thai เครื่องปฏิกรณ์นิวเคลียร์
- เครื่องปฏิกรณ์นิวเคลียร์ (krêuang bpà-dtì-gon-niu-klia)device
Turkish nükleer reaktör
- nükleer reaktördevice
Ukrainian я́дерний реа́ктор
- я́дерний реа́ктор (jádernyj reáktor)device
Vietnamese lò phản ứng hạt nhân
- lò phản ứng hạt nhândevice
Welsh adweithydd niwclear
- adweithydd niwcleardevice
Cite this entry
nuclear reactor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nuclear%20reactor
“nuclear reactor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nuclear%20reactor. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nuclear reactor,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nuclear%20reactor.
Source: nuclear reactor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.