1.   At present, spent fuel is stored in cooling ponds near the plants that used it.

2.   Many of the spent fuel rods have sat for years in dry casks or in cooling ponds, awaiting a final burial site.

3.   North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear program and to allow inspectors to monitor a cooling pond where some spent reactor fuel rods were being stored.

4.   North Korea placed the rods in a muddy, concrete-lined cooling pond nearby and said it would have to reprocess them quickly for safety reasons.

5.   The common method is to place the fuel rods into separate containers inside the cooling ponds.

6.   The cooling ponds can be chilled, replenished with pure water and have their acidity reduced.

7.   The fuel rods are now in a temporary cooling pond and will be available for further processing in several months.

8.   The fuel rods already removed from the Yongbyon reactor are to be put in special cans, kept in cooling ponds, and subjected to regular inspection.

9.   The North is also reluctant to part with the spent fuel rods now in cooling ponds.

10.   The plutonium is contained in the spent reactor fuel that is kept in a cooling pond near the reactor.