"Why is the glass so yellow?" I asked.
"It's lined with lead for radiation protection," said our guide.
"What's the radiation coming out of that thing?"
"About 1,000 rems," he replied.

Quick calculation. 1,000 "radiation equivalents for man", as the nomenclature goes. That's about twice the radiation you would get standing at ground zero in Hiroshima.

"What happens if something goes wrong in there?" I ask.
"You can manipulate things with these," says the guide, showing me a pair of handles on either side of the glass that operate two long arms that reach across the room. There are six of these, so the arms can reach anywhere. "No one has been in there since it was completed," he says. "You'd be killed instantly."

After the rods have cooled a bit, they are stored in an Olympic-sized storage pool next door. Along the railing - incongruously - are a series of life preservers.

"Anybody ever fall in?" I ask.
"No, but just in case."
"Would you be harmed if you did?"
"A couple of feet of water block all the radiation," he says. "But you wouldn't want to dive down to the bottom."

The fuel rods remain in the water anywhere from five to 15 years.