1.   A large nuclear reactor will contain hundreds, if not thousands of rods filled with uranium fuel.

2.   In a power the uranium fuel is normally stacked in disks and contained in fuel rods.

3.   As it stands now, the Russians would get paid for just the enrichment services used to make the uranium fuel.

4.   Before that, the company committed itself to supply uranium fuel to electric utilities without securing its own source of the material.

5.   A final step would be to include the enriched uranium fuel used in submarines in negotiations toward a global treaty to ban the production of fissile materials.

6.   But recycled plutonium fell out of favor over the years, except in Japan, as uranium fuel became cheaper.

7.   By January cash got so squeezed that the plant was forced to cut back on purchases of fresh uranium fuel.

8.   Can the pressure vessels that hold uranium fuel still take the heat?

9.   Consumers will continue to be billed for ongoing costs at the plant, including a decommissioning program that will remove highly radioactive uranium fuel and irradiated metal parts.

10.   In September, a budget shortfall delayed a shipment of uranium fuel.