What is Nuclear Energy?
10 Quick Facts about Nuclear Energy
- Nuclear energy is the energy amassed in the nucleus of an atom. Nuclear energy is liberated when a nucleus splits apart (fission) or fuses with another (fusion).
- Nuclear power uses fission to generate heat and electricity.
- The United States, Japan and France are the largest producers of nuclear power.
- Nuclear power provides more than 14% of the world’s electricity.
- Till date only two nuclear weapons have been used as part of warfare, one in Hiroshima and the other in Nagasaki.
- The Sun produces a huge amount of energy from its nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen into helium.
- So far, there have been three big nuclear power plant disasters: the Three Mile Island accident (1979), the Chernobyl disaster (1986), and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011).
- Research suggests that a person receives five times as much radiation in a lifetime by sitting in front of the television or computer as he or she would from residing near a nuclear power station.
- Nuclear medicine uses radioactive isotopes to diagnose, and treat diseases. Doctors use radiotherapy to treat many medical conditions, especially cancer.
- During the Middle Ages, craftspeople used Uranium, today’s nuclear fuel, to colour glass yellow or green.
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