Nuclear Fuel Rods

By: Me

Fuel rods

• Fuel rods are zirconium alloy tubes that contain the radioactive uranium in reactor cores

• If they fail, radiation is next contained by the coolant system.

What do fuel rods do and what’s going on with them?

• The first level of protection against the release of deadly radioactive material-are failing in increasing numbers.

• An engineer thinks a faulty manufacturing process he helped design may be to blame.

What is being done to fix this problem?

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission isn't concerned, and the suspect parts are still being shipped, with potentially dangerous results.

• Since today's manufacturing methods supposedly produce stronger rods, plant operators are running the rods longer and harder than ever before.

• The facility studied most closely--the failures were "definitely due to a flaw at some point in the quality check program."