Eli5 How does nuclear fuel get spent so fast?

Question

With the half life of the radioactive metals used in the fuel rods being thousands of years, the fuel used in reacors, i would think, should last for similar amounts of time. How come nuclear plants go through large ammount of spent fuel that then has to be stored?

In: 23

Answer 1

The nuclear fuel used in reactors gets spent quickly because the fission process breaks the atoms apart, releasing energy and creating radioactive byproducts that can interfere with the reaction. It’s like burning wood in a fire — it’s gone quickly because the chemical reaction releases energy and changes the wood into ash.