technetium
/tɛkˈniːʃɪəm
/noun [mass noun]
The chemical element of atomic number 43, a radioactive metal. Technetium was the first element to be created artificially, in 1937, by bombarding molybdenum with deuterons. (Symbol: Tc) All forms of the element technetium are radioactive and have relatively short half-lives....
- Some forms of nuclear radiation - such as the beta-emission from radioactive technetium - 99-are particularly difficult to detect underground, partly because the radiation doesn't travel very far.
- At Sellafield in Cumbria, tests have shown that discharges of the radioactive pollutant technetium pumped into the Irish Sea have spread as far as Scandinavia and have entered the food chain.
Origin
1940s: modern Latin, from Greek tekhnētos 'artificial', from tekhnasthai 'make by art', from tekhnē 'art'.