What do they do with the spent fuel rods?

The spent fuel rods will typically sit quietly in these pools for a couple of years. Once they become less radioactive, and less hot, they can either be shipped to a disposal site, or in the case of Japanese power plant, shipped to a reprocessing plant.

Why are spent fuel rods removed from a reactor core?

Spent fuel rods are removed from a nuclear reactor core because they no longer contain a significant amount of uranium or plutonium. Instead they contain small amounts of unused uranium and plutonium and other radioisotopes formed in the chain reaction. Spent rods are stored in tanks of water.

Why are fuel rods replaced?

Because of the fission process that consumes the fuels, the old fuel rods must be replaced periodically with fresh ones (this is called a (replacement) cycle).

What is it called when a fuel rod has been used up and is now waste?

Radioactive (or nuclear) waste is a byproduct from nuclear reactors, fuel processing plants, hospitals and research facilities. There are two broad classifications: high-level or low-level waste. High-level waste is primarily spent fuel removed from reactors after producing electricity.

How long do fuel rods last?

Your 12-foot-long fuel rod full of those uranium pellet, lasts about six years in a reactor, until the fission process uses that uranium fuel up.

What can be done with nuclear waste?

Disposal of low-level waste is straightforward and can be undertaken safely almost anywhere. Storage of used fuel is normally under water for at least five years and then often in dry storage. Deep geological disposal is widely agreed to be the best solution for final disposal of the most radioactive waste produced.

Where do they store spent fuel rods?

They are kept on racks in the pool, submerged in more than twenty feet of water, and water is continuously circulated to draw heat away from the rods and keep them at a safe temperature. Because no permanent repository for spent fuel exists in the United States, reactor owners have kept spent fuel at the reactor sites.

What is a fuel rod?

A long, slender, zirconium metal tube containing pellets of fissionable material, which provide fuel for nuclear reactors. Fuel rods are assembled into bundles called fuel assemblies, which are loaded individually into the reactor core.

How do control rods move?

The control rods can be moved down into the reactor, which slows the reaction down by absorbing more of the neutrons, or moved up so that fewer of the neutrons are absorbed, which means that the reaction remains constant and explosions do not occur.