Science Behind the Atom Bomb - Nuclear Museum - Atomic Heritage Foundation A nuclear reactor works by using the energy that is released when the nucleus of a heavy atom splits. Like nuclear fusion, for fission to produce energy, the total binding energy of the resulting elements must be greater than that of the starting element. When a neutron strikes the nucleus of a uranium/plutonium isotope, it splits it into two new atoms, but in the process release 3 new neutrons and a bunch of energy. How Was the Atom Split? History of Splitting the Atom - Malevus - UNGO While overheating of a reactor can lead to, and has led to, meltdown and steam explosions, the much lower uranium enrichment makes it impossible for a nuclear reactor to explode with the same destructive power as a nuclear weapon. If the number of fissions in one generation is equal to the number of neutrons in the preceding generation, the system is said to be critical; if the number is greater than one, it is supercritical; and if it is less than one, it is subcritical. Among the project's dozens of sites were: Hanford Site in Washington, which had the first industrial-scale nuclear reactors and produced plutonium; Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which was primarily concerned with uranium enrichment; and Los Alamos, in New Mexico, which was the scientific hub for research on bomb development and design. Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. It can be up to 1,000 times more powerful than an A-bomb, according to nuclear experts. I.I. When a uranium nucleus fissions into two daughter nuclei fragments, about 0.1 percent of the mass of the uranium nucleus[9] appears as the fission energy of ~200MeV. This is an important effect in all reactors where fast neutrons from the fissile isotope can cause the fission of nearby 238U nuclei, which means that some small part of the 238U is "burned-up" in all nuclear fuels, especially in fast breeder reactors that operate with higher-energy neutrons.
