fuel rod

American  

noun

Energy.

1. nuclear fuel contained in a long thin-walled tube, an array of such tubes forming the core of a nuclear reactor.

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fuel rod British  

noun

1. a long tube, often made of a zirconium alloy and containing uranium-oxide pellets, that is stacked in bundles of about 200 to provide the fuel in certain types of nuclear reactor

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Example Sentences

When neutrons fly away from one fuel rod, the surrounding water slows them to the optimal speed before they reach the next uranium nuclei, making them more likely to create fission.

From Literature

Fuel rods are rigged together in an assembly that allows neutrons to travel from one fuel rod to another.

From Literature

The report says it is “unknown if normal train vibrations will cause fuel rod failure,” but that an interim plan to “return leaking canisters to senders” on America’s perilously degraded rail lines faces immediate problems for companies who have no means of safely handling the waste.

From Salon

Officials in the state of Lower Saxony have received a request for the Framatome-owned ANF facility in Lingen, near the German-Dutch border, to be allowed to produce hexagonal fuel rod arrangements used in Soviet-designed water-water energetic reactors.

From Seattle Times

Each fuel rod is packed with fingertip-sized pellets of processed uranium that generate heat through the splitting of billions of atoms each second.

From Seattle Times