are just under 1,500 fuel rod assemblies in all the reactors at daiichi. fuel rods are what hold the uranium fuel that releases radioactive gunk into the atmosphere if those fuel rods are damaged. each fuel rod assembly holds about 380 pounds of uranium. so if you do the math, that means in total the risk we are talking about here is just over a half million pounds of uranium in the reactors. about 260 metric tons of uranium fuel at risk of dumping radioactivity into the environment in japan. but wait. there s more. beyond just what is in the reactors there s also the radioactive fuel that used to be in the reactors that is now being kept at daiichi as spent fuel. there s more than seven times as much of that at daiichi as is in the reactors. tepco says there are over 11,000 fuel rod assemblies of spent fuel that are stored in spent fuel pools at daiichi.
infrastructure, the risk is not really a mushroom cloud. there s not a real risk here of a nuclear explosion like you get with a nuclear bomb. a mushroom cloud and all that. the risk here is the release of radioactivity into the environment. and the important issue is how much radioactivity we are talking about. tepco now clarifies that there are just under 1,500 fuel rod assemblies in all the reactors at daiichi. fuel rods are what hold the uranium fuel that releases radioactive gunk into the atmosphere if those fuel rods are damaged. each fuel rod assembly holds about 380 pounds of uranium. so if you do the math, that means in total the risk we are talking about here is just over a half million pounds of uranium in the reactors. about 260 metric tons of uranium fuel at risk of dumping radioactivity into the environment in japan. but wait. there s more. beyond just what is in the reactors there s also the radioactive fuel that used to be in the reactors that is now being kept at daiic
even when we think nuclear risk, like when it s joked about on the simpsons with that nuclear plant that looms over everything in springfield, the risk for a reactor is often portrayed, often thought of as a mushroom cloud. infrastructure, the risk is not really a mushroom cloud. there s not a real risk here of a nuclear explosion like you get with a nuclear bomb. a mushroom cloud and all that. the risk here is the release of radioactivity into the environment. and the important issue is how much radioactivity we are talking about. tepco now clarifies that there are just under 1,500 fuel rod assemblies in all the reactors at daiichi. fuel rods are what hold the uranium fuel that releases radioactive gunk into the atmosphere if those fuel rods are damaged. each fuel rod assembly holds about 380 pounds of uranium. so if you do the math, that means in total the risk we are talking about here is just over a half million pounds of uranium in the reactors. about 260 metric tons of uranium