It is the heart of the nuclear boiler, the heat source that heats the water in the enormous kettle that is a nuclear power plant to about 300 degrees.
In the middle of the reactor building, a fuel block made up of several tens of thousands of rods is immersed in a tank
.
These 4 meter high tubes contain enriched uranium pellets, separated from the water by a zirconium sheath.
In rare cases (15 in 1 million), the sheath leaks rare and radioactive gases, such as xenon and krypton - non-toxic, chemically inert atmospheric gases.
This is the case for five pencils in Taishan
.
Read also:
China admits minor incident at its Taishan nuclear power plant
"This is an infrequent phenomenon but known, studied and predicted,"
says one at EDF.
This type of incident also occurs in France.
Two reactors, one in Chooz (Ardennes) and the other in Civaux (Vienne), have borne the brunt in recent months.
The phenomenon has also been observed on reactors in Germany and Brazil.
These incidents can have various
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