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Nuclear energy is held in the strong force holding the protons and neutrons together. There are two ways to release it:

  1. Fission of large nuclei into smaller ones - large nuclei (e.g. Uranium-235) are inherently unstable and when struck by a neutron split into two smaller nuclei (fission products - usually about 1/3 and 2/3 the original Atomic Mass) and 2 or 3 free neutrons plus the released nuclear energy as kinetic energy of these particles.
  2. Fusion of small nuclei into larger ones - small nuclei (e.g. Deuterium) are very stable, but when highly compressed and heated to millions of degrees, they will combine with each other releasing nuclear energy as kinetic energy of the product nuclei.

Elements in the middle (from iron to lead) cannot undergo either fusion or fission as they have no excess nuclear energy (you can think of them as nuclear "ash").

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