Having recently watched the Chernobyl mini-series on HBO, one of the questions that keeps coming to my mind is this. If the nuclear material is so deadly that even people in full protective gear are only allowed to be in certain areas of the clean-up for 90 seconds at a time, and some areas were so contaminated that the radiation would destroy any electronics more complicated than a light switch, how do they build the things in the first place? Does the radioactive output become stronger over time?
In: Physics
The radioactive output becomes weaker over time, not stronger. The reason the Chernobyl mess is so highly radioactive is that it melted all the fuel rods together and burned through the floor, resulting in a huge blob of radioactive molten metal that eventually hardened but still remained uncontained.
When making fuel rods, they are made isolated from other fuel rods to prevent a chain reaction and are made and stored in areas designed to absorb the radiation to contain it from causing much damage.
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