Joshua (Josh) Clark

What they do initially is, so remember these things are underwater, and they're underwater for a reason, not just to carry out the chain reaction that produces power, but also to keep them from going critical.

So they're moved from the reactor core to what are called spent fuel pools.

I want to say spent fuel pules every time I say that out loud, but I can't.

And they never leave the water.

They're taking down these special canals that connect the reactor core to the spent fuel pools.

And just to add a little charm to it, they actually attach them to the bottom of a gondola that takes it through the canal.

It is very cute.

And then once they get to the spent fuel pool, they're basically dropped into this huge pool, stainless steel pool, that has about 40 feet of water in it.

And they're, I don't know, I think about 10 feet or so tall.

So they sink down to the bottom.

They've got 20, 30 feet of water over them.

And they stay there for years because they're so hot and they're so radioactive.

It would be insane to do anything else with them but basically put them in the pools and let them sit there for a while.

Yeah.

A fuel assembly, especially a bunch of fuel assemblies exposed to air, would just produce so much heat that they would blow up.

And when they blew up...

Remember, these are fairly recent spent fuel rods.

They would release a lot of really bad stuff, like cesium-137.

That spreads in the air very quickly.

It settles into the environment very quickly.