Post by kieransan on Jun 5, 2013 6:59:02 GMT
The protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus are bound together by the strong nuclear force. By fusing together the nuclei of two light atoms, or by splitting a heavy atom in a process called fission, we can release some of this binding energy. After more than half a century of research, fusion remains technologically elusive. Here we focus on fission, exploited in hundreds of reactors around the world; in 2011, it provided about 13.5 per cent of the world's electrical energy
In December 1942 Enrico Fermi achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, harnessing the process that would be used to lay waste to the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945. In the aftermath of this destruction, proponents of nuclear power made the case that splitting the atom could also be used for benevolent ends, supplying clean ...