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A large spike in radio activity after the fire in number 4. what that means is the force of that explosion or smoke from the fire or both carried aloft radioactive particles being released by the damaged spent fuel rods. uranium pellets in the big now probably damaged metal tubes. this is not a nuclear explosion. there are not nuclear chain reactions going on here, but this is a means by which radioactivity is being released into the atmosphere, and the question is whether or not those fuel rods, even if already damaged, whether they can be resubmerged. japanese officials floated the idea of h...

Controlled reaction. instead of blowing up, the reaction creates heat. and the heat is what we are after because that's what these reactors use to make a lot of electricity. to make that nuclear reaction that makes that heat, those uranium pellets are the fuel. and just like any fuel, it gets used up eventually. your 12 foot long fuel rod, that lasts about six years in a reactor. with a reactor in effect turned on, the fission process over about six years uses that uranium fuel up. it becomes something they call spent fuel. and when they call it spent fuel, what they mean is that it is degrade...

Guess i would differ on is probably it wouldn't go all the way to a meltdown in the pool. but it doesn't matter because the -- long before that, the volatile radioactivity would have been driven off by the heat. you don't need to go to a meltdown to release the radioactivity that we are concerned for the environment. >> so just the damage to the fuel rods which could happen just by them being exposed to the air is enough to release radioactivity, that is the worst case. >> the cladding around the uranium pellets, these metal zirconium tubes would burst. and at that point the heat would drive o...

>> tell me what i got wrong in the explanation. >> the one thing i guess i would differ on is probably it wouldn't go all the way to meltdown in the pool, but it doesn't matter because long before that the volatile radioactivity would have been driven off by the heat. you don't need to go to meltdown to release the radioactivity we are concerned for the environment. >> just the damage to the fuel rods that could happen just by them being exposed to the air is enough to release radioactivity, that is the worst case. >> the planning around the uranium pellets, the tubes, would burst. at that poi...

Piece of it. what ann is setting up here, what she's talking about, she's setting up a discussion about the politics of nuclear power in the united states. but what i want you to focus on is what she is showing as she is setting this up. watch. >> this is a rare look at an assembly line of what some see as america's energy future, the components of nuclear power. tiny uranium pellets fill 12-foot-long rods. bundled together, they become assemblies. inside reactors, the assembly's active engine, creating nuclear energy, once done, they have radioactive waste that could be dangerous for thousand...