Photo courtesy ofĪ surprisingly large amount! That was what physicist Albert Einstein meant Photo: Albert Einstein-godfather of nuclear energy. That type of fission is called a nuclear reaction. It can also be made to happen on demand-which is how we get energy out ofĪtoms in nuclear power plants. Radioactive isotopes into stable atoms that aren't radioactive). Radioactive decay (the conversion of unstable, Nuclear fission can happen spontaneously, in which we case we call it That's because the central part of the atom (the nucleus) is whatīreaks up and fission is another word for splitting apart. Particles and energy in the process, we call it nuclear fission. When largeĪtoms split into one or more smaller atoms, giving off other They're bound to fall apart, splitting into bits like a largeīuilding tumbling to the ground and releasing energy on the way. The atomic equivalents of wobbly old buildings: sooner or later, But otherĪtoms exist in unstable forms called radioactive isotopes. Picture courtesy of NASA Glenn Research Center (NASA-GRC) andĪtoms (the building blocks of matter) are much the same.Īnd quite happy to stay as they are pretty much forever.
The site now does other kinds of cutting-edge space research. Photo: Carefully controlled: Before it was closed in the 1970s, NASA's scientific nuclear reactor at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky Ohio was used for developing materials for the space program. The ground, releasing their stored potential energy as heat, sound,Īnd kinetic energy (the bricks could fall on your head!). Unstable building is bound to collapse sooner or later and, when itĭoes so, the materials from which it was built come crashing back down to Put them, they can store that energy indefinitely. Ground into the right position and, as long as they remain where you To work hard to lift bricks and other building materials up off the It's not immediately obvious but tall buildings store energy-potential energy. Can a nuclear power plant explode like a nuclear bomb?.What's the difference between a nuclear power plant and a nuclear bomb?.Will nuclear energy tide us over until we can convert the world to renewable energy? Or is it an expensive distraction? Photo by Warren Gretz courtesy of US DOE/NREL (US Department of Energy/National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Photo: Nuclear energy-the past or the future? Sleek modern solar panels in the foreground with the now-decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear plant, Sacramento, California, right behind them. Understand what nuclear energy is and how it works-so let's forget the politics forĪ moment and take a closer look at the science. Vital way to tackle climate change others insist it is dirty,ĭangerous, uneconomic, and unnecessary. Huge amounts of world energy have been produced from atoms ever since,īut amid enormous controversy.
(now Sellafield) in Cumbria, England in 1956. Last updated: November 20, 2021.Ītomic energy has had a mixed history in the half-century or so since the world's firstĬommercial nuclear power plant opened at Calder Hall