re what do nuclear site s cooling towers do in article c l x kj vcd hp com johne vcd hp com john eaton writes s s walker man swalker uts edu au wrote during the nuclear fission reaction the uranium fuel can get hot enough to melt when this happens the liquid uranium is pumped to the cooling tower where it is sprayed into the air nonsense first the uranium fuel is sealed in zirconium alloy cylinders which don t melt in any circumstances short of major failure of the power plant second the primary water that circulates inside the reactor core is never pumped into the cooling tower it s the secondary water cycle that goes through the cooling tower third liquid uranium would burst into flame on contact with air contact with the cool outside air will condense the mist and it will fall back to the cooling tower floor there it is collected by a cleaning crew using shop vacs and is then reformed into pellets for reactor use the next day cleaning crew working in a mist of uranium this is a toxic heavy metal even if it weren t radioactive shouldn t there be some smileys here or frowneys john whitmore
