Back وقود نووي مستهلك Arabic Stupeň vyhoření Czech Verbrauchter Kernbrennstoff German Combustible nuclear gastado Spanish سوخت هستهای مصرفشده Persian Bahan bakar nuklir bekas ID Combustibile nucleare esaurito Italian 使用済み核燃料 Japanese 사용후핵연료 Korean Combustibil nuclear epuizat Romanian
Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and, depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle, it will have different isotopic constituents than when it started.[1]
Nuclear fuel rods become progressively more radioactive (and less thermally useful) due to neutron activation as they are fissioned, or "burnt", in the reactor. A fresh rod of low enriched uranium pellets (which can be safely handled with gloved hands) will become a highly lethal gamma emitter after 1–2 years of core irradiation, unsafe to approach unless under many feet of water shielding. This makes their invariable accumulation and safe temporary storage in spent fuel pools a prime source of high level radioactive waste and a major ongoing issue for future permanent disposal.