a) A form of government in ancient Rome headed by triplet brothers.
b)What the French think was a market in ancient Rome where the children would buy their candies ("trits").
c) A German word for a geenhouse in which only trees are planted.
d) A radioactive isotope of hydrogen whose nucleus contains one proton and two neutrons.

2. Plutonium:

a) The rock out of which the planet Pluto is made.
b) A toy factory in which only stuffed Pluto dogs are manufactured.
c) The 94th element in the periodic table. Plutonium-239 is an element with 94 protons and 145 neutrons in its nucleus and a half-life of about 24,000 years. It is a radioactive weapons-useable material which is highly carcinogenic when inhaled. It emits mainly alpha radiation.

3. Reprocessing:

a) The digestive process of ruminants which involves the regurgitation and mastication of swallowed food.
b) In psychology, a client's repeated retelling of his or her troubles.
c) In law, the renewed summons for an individual to appear in court when he/she has failed to do so following the first summons.
d) The chemical separation of irradiated nuclear fuel into uranium, plutonium, and fission products.

4. Electrometallurgical processing:

a) A new kind of electric stimulation treatment to help people with allergies to metal.
b) The dangerous practice of using a fork to retrieve a bagel from a still-plugged-in toaster.
c) A way of producing electricity from metals.
d) A new reprocessing technology which uses electrolysis to separate fission products from uranium and transuranics. One feature of this process is that uranium and transuranics are collected at different electrodes. The end product is in metal form.

5. PEIS:

a) A green leguminous plant hated by children but believed to be beneficial healthwise, hence the order by mothers to their children at mealtime: "Eat your peis!"
b) The acronym of the Potato Eaters of Ireland Society.
c) Acronym for Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement which is carried out in order to evaluate the effects of a particular program on the environment.

6. Triple play reactor:

a) In baseball, the member of the crowd who responds most vociferously when 3 outs are made on a single at-bat.
b) A person who gets angry after gambling three times and losing.
c) An actor who re-enacts the same play three times.
d) A reactor which would achieve these three results: produce tritium, use military surplus plutonium, and produce electricity for civilian consumption.

7. NPT:

a) Acronym for the Non-Proliferation Treatment which was used in Australia to check the overpopulation of rabbits.
b) A short way of saying "No Please, Thank you" becoming increasingly popular among teenagers due to Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign.
c) Acronym for the Non-Proliferation Treaty which came into effect in 1970 and was indefinitely extended in 1995.

Don't scroll down here
unless you are ready to see the answers!

Answers:
1. d
2. c
3. d
4. d
5. c
6. d
7. c

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Comments to Outreach Coordinator: ieer@ieer.org
Takoma Park, Maryland, USA

Last updated: November, 1996