reprocessing
reprocessing is the present participle and gerund of reprocess.
Noun
reprocessing (countable and uncountable, plural reprocessings)
- A second or subsequent processing.
- The process of extracting useful or valuable materials from used nuclear fuel, mainly focusing on the recovery of fissile and fertile material for use in fresh nuclear reactor fuel, or, in some cases, the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
- For 75 years, it has fulfilled a wide range of roles: producing weapons-grade plutonium for early atomic weapons in the aftermath of the Second World War; the world's first commercial nuclear power station supplying electricity to the National Grid; reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel; and the...2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 20
Meaning of reprocess
Verb
reprocess (third-person singular simple present reprocesses, present participle reprocessing, simple past and past participle reprocessed)
- To process again.
- To extract the fissile material (mainly uranium and plutonium) remaining in spent nuclear reactor fuel, allowing it to be recycled into fresh nuclear fuel or (for plutonium and/or uranium-233 from some specialized breeder reactors) used to build nuclear weapons; may also extend to recovering nonfissile but fertile elements remaining in spent reactor fuel (such as thorium), or precious metals produced as fission products.
- In order to greatly reduce the plant's output of high-level radioactive waste that has to be disposed of somehow, an onsite facility reprocesses the spent fuel rods using the PUREX process, separating out the unburnt uranium and plutonium from the troublesome fission products.
- To extract the fissile material (mainly uranium and plutonium) remaining in spent nuclear reactor fuel, allowing it to be recycled into fresh nuclear fuel or (for plutonium and/or uranium-233 from some specialized breeder reactors) used to build nuclear weapons; may also extend to recovering nonfissile but fertile elements remaining in spent reactor fuel (such as thorium), or precious metals produced as fission products.
Forms of reprocessing
| plural | reprocessings |
|---|
Words formed from reprocessing
Questions about reprocessing
- What does reprocessing mean?
- Reprocessing means a second or subsequent processing.
- What is reprocessing the present participle and gerund of?
- Reprocessing is the present participle and gerund of reprocess.
- What part of speech is reprocessing?
- Reprocessing is a noun.
- What is the plural of reprocessing?
- The plural of reprocessing is reprocessings.
Words near reprocessing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: reprocessing (page history and authors); reprocess (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “reprocessing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reprocessing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.