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Why are spent fuel rods removed from a reactor core?
During fission, the amount of fissionable isotope in each fuel rod decreases. Eventually there is no longer enough fuel in the rods to ensure that the output of the power station remains constant. The isotope-depleted, or spent, fuel rods must be removed and replaced with new fuel rods.Spent fuel rods are classified as high-level nuclear waste. They contain a mixture of highly radioactive isotopes, including both the fission products and what remains of the nuclear fuel.Some of these fission products have very short half-lives, on the order of fractions of seconds. Others have half-lives of hundreds or thousands of years. All nuclear power plants have holding tanks, or "swimming pools," for spent fuel rods.
What problems are there for transporting used fuel rods?
Used fuel rods need to be safely transported in order to prevent the release of radioactive material into the environment accidentally, and protected from vandalism or terrorists who may want to use it. Spent fuel must be stored in a place that is safe for people and secure from tampering.
What part of the nuclear reactor is the fuel located in?
The nuclear fuel is found in the fuel rods. These fuel rods are formed into fuel bundles called fuel assemblies, and together they make up the reactor core.
What happens if nuclear fuel rods touch?
The cannot as they are inserted in holes in steel support frames that hold several dozen fuel rods. When changing fuel, complete steel support frames are switched and individual rods are not handled.
How do nuclear fuel rods work?
Usually, the rods themselves are made of Uranium-238. The fuel inside the rods is Uranium-235, which is highly fissionable. The Uranium-238 is very heavy, and slows down the neutrons so that they can properly strike the U-235 atoms.
What are the effects on using nuclear energy in the environment?
Not so much using nuclear energy as much as it is the spent fuel rods that are discarded after they are depleted. A nuclear reactor uses Uranium fuel rods that are discarded when they are no longer useful. the problem is they are highly radioactive, which is quite bad for the environment. The radioactive fuel rods (if not handled properly) can poison the surrounding area with radiation killing wildlife, and pollutiing streams and rivers and soil.
Does water released back into the environment ever come in contact with the radioactive fuel rods?
No, it doesn't.
When or how is a nuclear chain reaction caused by nuclear fission a problem to people?
It is not a problem if it is a controlled chain reaction and all safety measures are in place and used. The primary problem associated with nuclear energy relates to the handling and storage of radioactive waste. Of particular concern is spent or depleted fuel rods. Spent fuel rods are highly radioactive. It takes thousands of years for radioactivity levels of this material to decay to safe levels. Human exposure to such radioactive waste can cause serious health problems and even death. Therefore, radioactive waste, including fuel rods, must be stored in specialized containers. The storage must be secure to prevent theft and/or malicious tampering.
What is bad about nuclear waste?
It is highly radioactive (that is the waste contained in the spent fuel)
Why do nuclear fuel rods heat in a reactor that is shut down?
Because the fission products that are contained in the fuel are radioactive and produce a substantial amount of heat.
What happens to a nucleus during nuclear fission process?
They just stay around, being stopped in the fuel rod material. Some are highly radioactive and constitute the high level waste, but if the fuel rods are stored intact, as normally happens with commercial reactors, they just remain in the rods indefinitely.
Why are spent fuel rods removed from a reactor core?
During fission, the amount of fissionable isotope in each fuel rod decreases. Eventually there is no longer enough fuel in the rods to ensure that the output of the power station remains constant. The isotope-depleted, or spent, fuel rods must be removed and replaced with new fuel rods.Spent fuel rods are classified as high-level nuclear waste. They contain a mixture of highly radioactive isotopes, including both the fission products and what remains of the nuclear fuel.Some of these fission products have very short half-lives, on the order of fractions of seconds. Others have half-lives of hundreds or thousands of years. All nuclear power plants have holding tanks, or "swimming pools," for spent fuel rods.
What causes a nuclear reactor that is used for power supply to continually produce toxic waste?
It's all about the nuclear fission byproducts. When fission occurs, a couple of neutrons are produced. But what happened to the rest of the uranium atom? The bulk of its mass remains as fission fragments. The fission fragments are radioactive byproducts of the event, and they in turn have to decay (radioactively) into something that is stable. This can take several transitions, and the decay rates vary from fractions of a second to millions of years. Spent fuel is highly radioactive ("hot"), and it has a variety of long-lived radionuclides in it. Nuclear fuel is seal up (welded inside) cladding to "keep it in one place" when fuel plates or fuel rods are produced. The spent fuel has all this highly radioactive and nasty-as-heck stuff inside the fuel plates or fuel rods. The radioactive byproducts are radioactive (and highly so!) for a long, long, long time. Aside from the possibility of radioactive contamination that might occur in a nuclear accident, the long-term storage of spent fuel is a major headache. The length of time it will take for the stuff to "cool off" radioactively, once the (fairly simple) physics of radioactive decay is comprehended, will leave the understanding person ill. Use the link to the Wikipedia article on long-lived fission products and skim it. Note what is produced and the half-lives of the stuff. It's disconcerting.
What problems are there for transporting used fuel rods?
Used fuel rods need to be safely transported in order to prevent the release of radioactive material into the environment accidentally, and protected from vandalism or terrorists who may want to use it. Spent fuel must be stored in a place that is safe for people and secure from tampering.
What is the definition of radioactive fuel?
Fuel that is radioactive
Are all nuclear fuel radioactive?
New nuclear fuel is slightly active, it has a very low rate of spontaneous fission, however it is safe to handle at this new stage when made up into fuel rods. After use in the reactor it becomes highly active and would kill you even with a short exposure, a minute or even less, so heavy shielding is then essential.
Would it be possible to run a large volume anchored hose to the ocean and connected to an APU powered pump to supply the water necessary to cool the fuel rods at Fukushima?
It would theoretically be possible. It wouldn't necessarily be a great idea. The water used to cool the fuel rods is ideally as pure as possible (with, potentially, a few carefully selected substances added) for a couple of reasons: You really don't want to cause corrosion in the fuel rods or in the plumbing surrounding them. It's not just "oh no, our nice clean fuel rods are all rusty and junky looking", but that flakes of the corrosion containing radioactive material could break off and be carried away in the cooling water. Exposing random chemical elements, like those found in seawater, to the kind of radiation found around fuel rods can "activate" some of them... that is, make them radioactive. Now you've got a large quantity of radioactive water; what are you going to do with it?
