Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 to 1000 nanometres (10−9 meter) but usually is 1 to 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale).
For radionuclides at trace concentrations, there can be a very gradual and slow transition from reversible surface sorption to irreversible incorporation into solids. A new EU-funded study has shed important light on such mechanisms.