Rod length3.9 m
1.92King size beds
1.3 billionChip transistors
848 trillionIron nuclei
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Nuclear Fuel Rod
A slender tube of ceramic uranium pellets/Technology
A nuclear fuel rod is a thin zirconium alloy tube packed with cylindrical pellets of enriched uranium dioxide. Each pellet is about the size of a pencil eraser but contains as much energy as a tonne of coal. A typical pressurized water reactor core contains about 50,000 fuel rods grouped into assemblies.
Measurements
Outer diameter9.5 thousandths m
164 quadrillionthsMercury orbit radii
1.4 millionChip transistor gates
1.8 trillionCarbon nuclei
Cladding thickness600 millionths m
1.8 thousandthsHammer lengths
250 millionthsForklift lengths
Pellet diameter8.2 thousandths m
5.9 thousandthsBroom lengths
1.6 millioniPhone transistors
Pellet height1 hundredths m
8.3 tenthsSkittles
9.4 thousandthsBaseball bats
Fuel mass per rod2 kg
2.35Chipotle bowls
136 billionthsBrooklyn Bridge masses
364 quadrillionthsTeaspoons of neutron star