Radioactive fuel rods: The silent threat

Japan’s nuclear crisis has highlighted the danger of the spent fuel rods piling up outside America’s nuclear plants

A water-filled tank in Virginia is used to cool and store used-up radioactive fuel rods: Pools like these in the U.S. are holding about four times more than originally intended.
(Image credit: Corbis)

What are fuel rods?

They’re the source of the fission reaction that makes nuclear plants work. Fuel rods are long metal tubes filled with uranium that’s been formed into pellets. When these rods are placed inside the reactor, nuclear fission occurs, generating heat. That in turn boils water and creates steam, which powers turbines and produces electricity. When the uranium fuel is used up, usually after about 18 months, the spent rods are generally moved to deep pools of circulating water to cool down for about 10 years, though they remain dangerously radioactive for about 10,000 years.

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