Alert

Due to a lapse in appropriations, the NRC has ceased normal operations. However, excepted and exempted activities necessary to maintain critical health and safety functions—as well as essential progress on designated critical activities, including those specified in Executive Order 14300—will continue, consistent with the OMB-Approved NRC Lapse Plan.

Fuel assembly (fuel bundle, fuel element)

A structured group of fuel rods (long, slender, metal tubes containing pellets of fissionable material, which provide fuel for nuclear reactors). Depending on the design, each reactor core may have dozens of fuel assemblies (also known as fuel bundles), each of which contains dozens of fuel rods.

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Friday, January 20, 2023