NUCLEAR POWER

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat.
But, what is a nuclear reaction? As we know atoms are form by a nucleus and the electron
cloud. A nuclear reaction is a reaction where the nucleus of the atoms are either broke down
or fused. Therefore we can distinguish to types of nuclear reaction: fission reaction and fusion
reaction.

FISSION REACTIONS:

The nuclear fission of the atoms was first discovered en 1938 by the investigators Otto Hahn y
Fritz Strassmann

The fission of an atom occurs when a heavy nucleus is divided in two or more smaller nucleus.
The fission of atoms is an exothermic process, which means that it liberates tons of energy.
Generally, fission can be induced by bombing the nucleus of the fissionable atom with free
neutrons. This neutron is absorbed by the nucleus making it unstable. The unstable nucleus
will break into two or more pieces. Moreover, this process creates subproducts as (nuclear
waste) which are very contaminating and dangerous for the environment if they are not
processed properly.

FUSION REACTIONS:

The nuclear fusion is the process in which various nucleus of atoms fuse, that is to say, they
link. Simultaneously, it liberates and absorbs a huge amount of energy. In order to make the
fusion happen, we have to break an important energy barrier produced by the electrostatic
forces. Which it means we have to apply an important amount of energy in form of heat.
Nowdays we are able to reach the temperature needed, nevertheless, we are not able to
control the reaction yet. Fusion reaction is known as ‘the future energy’ because it differs from
the fission in the lack of production of nuclear waste.

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

A nuclear power plan is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor.
APPLICATIONS OF NUCLEAR POWER

Despite nuclear technology is usually used for the production of nuclear power, there are
some more applications of it, just like:

- Military application, nuclear weapons

Nuclear weapons are weapons that used nuclear technology. Depending on the role them
play, there are two types of nuclear weapons: those which are used to explode