in nuclear, busted up rods are not something surprising or new. happens all the time in the crazy environment they're operating in. happens in the US too so this seems like some interesting dis-information
we make them here in the US too and when you pull that crap out of the reactor, they look like bananas. get some debris in there and it will abrade the crap out of the rods. this would not concern me unless i owned the plant and had to pay a crap ton of money to replace the fuel rods.
fuel rod reliability in the harsh environment they're working in is the primary design focus
abrasion from rubbing against each other, deformation due to heat, foreign matter in the water, etc…. all of these can cause a fuel rod to "fail" Failure is not catastrophic per se…its just not as efficient - it leaks.
<nuke anon
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1616680
now that being said, doesn't mean that Taishan isn't being completely forthright about whats going on. Also doesn't mean that CNN isn't pandering and trying scare tactics. Both can be true (and false)
forgot to add an example
my first interface with leaking fuel rods
there have been many more since
https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0103/ML010300349.pdf