IAEA Safety Glossary

The IAEA Safety Glossary defines and explains technical terms used in IAEA safety standards and other safety related IAEA publications, and provides information on their usage.

The Safety Glossary provides guidance primarily for the drafters and reviewers of safety standards and other publications, including IAEA technical officers, consultants and members of bodies that endorse safety standards. It aims to harmonize terminology and usage in the IAEA safety standards, in the work of the IAEA Department of Nuclear Safety and Security and in the IAEA as a whole.

Though the Safety Glossary also is a source of information for users of IAEA safety standards and other safety related IAEA publications, such users - in particular drafters of national legislation - should be aware that the terms have been chosen, defined and explained for this purpose. Terminology and usage may differ in other contexts, such as in the publications of other organizations and in binding international legal instruments.

An electronic version of the IAEA Safety Glossary is also available.

The first version of the IAEA Safety Glossary was published in April 2000. The second version was published in June 2007 and is available as a printed sales publication.

The 2007 Edition of the Safety Glossary is also available in PDF in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. The English version also is available as a printed sales publication.