Nuclear Fission

No, that is about 15 percent, most comes from the kinetic recoil energy of the fission fragments, which is then converted to thermal energy.

Fissionable material, that is, material with the ability to fission, occurs in some isotopes of heavy elements. The most useful ones are uranium-235 (U-235) and plutonium-239 (Pu-239). In brief, when fission occurs, an atom of nuclear fuel (and we're talking about the fission of nuclear fuel here) splits. This splitting yields what are called fission fragments, and the atom splits approximately in two. Note that there are several options as regards what the atom splits into. It can split into "A" and "B" or it can split into "C" and "D" or a few other resultants. But regardless, the fission fragments recoil after fission occurs, and most of the energy of this recoil, which is kinetic energy on the atomic scale, is expressed as heat (thermal energy). The fuel in a reactor, whatever it is, is tightly sealed in a metal jacket (cladding). The atoms of the fuel are being held rigidly, and when fission occurs, the recoil of the fragments is "contained" in the fuel itself. This mechanical energy gives rise to the appearance of thermal (heat) energy. The lion's share of energy released by fission is carried off in the recoil of the fission fragments, which is kinetic (mechanical) energy. Said another way, the fission fragments can't "go anywhere" in the fuel matrix, and the kinetic energy they come away with after fission is captured in the fuel and appears as heat. There are also free neutrons released, and they carry off kinetic energy like the fission fragments. These neutrons are slowed down in the moderator to increase the chances that they will be captured by other fuel atoms and cause other fission reactions. They will continue the chain and cause more fissions following neutron capture events. Electromagnetic radiation in the form of gamma rays is also produced in nuclear fission. It must be shielded against. In review, most of the energy of fission appears in the kinetic energy of the fission fragments, and that kinetic energy is converted into heat within the fuel element. A nuclear reactor is a core made up of an assembly of fuel bundles, which are made of fuel elements, usually using enriched uranium as the nuclear fuel. In the pressurized water reactor, this assembly is inside a pressure vessel, as water is used as the primary coolant, and also the moderator. It can be ordinary water or heavy water. We also see some reactor designs that use graphite as a moderator. Also in the reactor are the control rods. The primary coolant is the heat transfer medium. It carries heat out of the core and into the steam generator and back to the core in a closed loop. The reactor is made to reach criticality on start up when control rods are pulled. The chain reaction within the fuel will produce a steady power output as a result of nuclear fission, and this will release heat. The heat is used to produce steam in a steam generator, and the steam is feed to a conventional steam turbine/generating unit to generate electric power. For those investigators attempting to trace the transformations of energy, nuclear energy (the binding energy that holds atomic nuclei together) is converted into electromagnetic and kinetic energy in fission. The electromagnetic energy, which appears as gamma rays, is largely lost as we cannot "capture" and "use" it. The kinetic energy (mechanical energy) of the fission fragments is converted into thermal energy (heat) because the fission products are "trapped" in the fuel matrix and cannot "fly free" as they would in air. The thermal energy created in the fuel bundles heats the fuel, and the primary coolant picks up that heat and transports it to a steam generator. The steam generator turns secondary water into steam, and the steam is piped to a turbine. The thermal energy of the steam is converted into mechanical energy in the turbine, and the mechanical energy is transferred into a generator. The generator converts the mechanical energy into electrical (electromagnetic) energy, and that is the useful product we derive from nuclear fission. Links are provided to other questions and to other web pages so you can check facts and learn more. You'll find the links below.

Nuclear fusion is nonrenewable, because it relies on uranium being found and extracted from ores, and there is no way to replace this once it is used up. It is true you can make fissile material from nonfissile U-238, but then eventually all the U-238 would be used up, so that breeding process just enables more energy to be obtained from the uranium source, it does not make any more. If fusion power becomes a reality this will make a huge energy resource available, namely the water in the oceans, and this would never be used up in millions of years, but strictly speaking it would still not be renewable. It requires hydrogen nuclei as an energy source, and once these have been used in fusion they are not naturally replenished. In fact, fusion power has a very high energy change, rendering it near impossible to reverse the process. A star, for example, is powered by nuclear fusion, and will eventually die out due to a lack of hydrogen. Nuclear Fission is a non-renewable energy source, but it depends on your perspective. Uranium-235, the primary fuel for nuclear power, has an abundance of 0.7 percent in the Earth. An enrichment of 4% to 5% is required in order to achieve an effective fission reaction, and the half-life of uranium-235 is about 70 million years, with uranium-238 (with an abundance of 99.3%) having a half-life of about 447 billion years. As a result, it is unlikely that we will run out of uranium-235 in the near, mid, and distant future. In addition, Plutonium-239, an effective alternate source of nuclear power, which can be formed from uranium-238, has a half-life of about 24,000 years. Because there is no way of making more uranium, once it is used up it will not be replaced. If nuclear fusion becomes possible, using hydrogen isotopes, then there will be a vast new source of energy from the earth's water, but again it is using a fixed resource. In my view the only truly renewable sources of energy are those which are provided by the sun on a daily basis.

The major drawbacks are the threat of catastrophic failure, and the creation of radioactive waste products. The waste materials from nuclear power geneation are biologically toxic and must be stored, securely, for decades or longer. Safety Concerns In the long term, the main disadvantage of fission power is the highly radioactive fission products that are the inevitable result of the fission process. These must be contained and never released to the atmosphere. The fuel itself (uranium) is contained in cladding, zircaloy in the PWR and BWR. This is normally very efficient and does its job well under normal operation and most minor fault conditions. What must be avoided is a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) which would release the water/steam in the primary circuit and might at the same time cause some of the cladding to fail, thus releasing activity. The primary circuit including the pressure vessel must be made and maintained to the highest standards, and it must also be able to withstand shocks such as earthquakes. At the end of life the spent fuel must be maintained in a safe place for many years. At present for US reactors this is on site in water tanks where it is kept cool and cannot cause a radiation release. Eventually this fuel will have to be found a permanent home in a safe place where it can be left for hundreds of years. This is scheduled to be Yucca Mountain in Nevada but no authorisation has yet been made to use this storage. Other countries also have this problem, and in a crowded country like the UK it is even more difficult to resolve. At the end of the plant life it will be de-commissioned, all the fuel removed from the reactor, and some dismantling done. However the primary circuit especially inside the vessel will probably always be too active to dismantle and it will have to remain, perhaps covered with soil, probably forever as it is difficult to see anyone even a thousand years from now wanting to tackle this job. Adequate financial provision needs to be made to cover de-commissioning rather than leave it to the next generation or the one after that. Operation and maintenance at the plant must always be kept to approved schedules and be supervised both by the owners engineers and the regulatory authority (NRC in the US). Things can go wrong if the operating instructions are not correct or don't cover every eventuality, and staff need to be thoroughly trained and motivated. A bulleted list of the disadvantages is at the related question referenced below, "What are the advantages and disadvantages for nuclear power?". Chiefly the highly radioactive fission products which are formed in fission. These are contained in the spent fuel and will have to be stored safely for hundreds of years. Another disadvantage is the fact that old reactor plants that have reached the end of life can probably not be fully dismantled because of residual radioactivity. This may not matter if in a remote place, but in heavily populated areas this could be a problem with future development of the area. I have not included accidents such as Chernobyl-these just should not happen and this was a combination of a poor design and reckless operation. However in the overall scheme of things the possibility of such serious accidents can never be completely eliminated. All nations jealously guard the privilege of building and operating what they see as safe, and International Law does not exist to prevent this. Perhaps some international agreement could be drawn up to only allow approved designs to be built, but each nation would have to ratify it, and there are always rogue nations which might not agree. It is important to realise that all fission reactors contain the dangerous byproducts that were released at Chernobyl, it is only good design and operation that prevents such occurrences.

Because the daughter isotope eventually reaches a stable state.

Advantages of Nuclear Fission: The biggest advantage is that it is an established way to generate electricity without emitting carbon dioxide. This is more and more important as global warming becomes a real threat to the environment. It also does not emit other pollutants into the air, such as smog or particulates. nuclear power production does not contribute any harmful gases to the atmosphere. no carbon, no acid, no sulfur. It is safe, contained, and can produce as much as 5 lbs. of coal with a fuel pellet weighing 6 grams! See the Related Questions links for more about the disadvantages. Renewable power, that is wind, solar,tidal,wave, biomass, geothermal, hydro, is never likely to be able to make up the 20 percent of electricity generated at present in the US by nuclear. So if nuclear is not used, additional fossil fuel probably coal would have to be used. Which is preferable? There are other questions in the answered list on the general advantages and disadvantages of nuclear fission power The Disadvantages and Advantages of Nuclear EnergyThere are many disadvantages and advantages of nuclear energy. The advantages are that nuclear power plants make 33% of the United States electricity. They also make 15% of the world's electricity. The good thing is that to make all this electricity they don't burn anything like coal or wood. This means they don't pollute the air so it keeps the environment clean near the plants. In fact they have discovered that many endangered species of animals live very near to the power plants. Nuclear energy is the most concentrated energy on the earth so we can control it very well. This is good because rarely an explosion will occur. A nuclear power doesn't take up a lot of room so people can make a lot of these machines all over the earth to make electricity. With today's economy he power plants help the world's energy and electricity need. Now that there is less oil on the face of the earth when all the other factories cant run anymore because there is no more oil nuclear power plants will forever. Nuclear power plants are some of the most efficient machines today they can make electricity without using oil and coal. The nuclear power plants also don't contribute to global warming. It also does not emit other pollutants into the air, such as smog or particulates. Nuclear plants can produce an awful lot of electricity, up to about 2 giga watts which is comparable to coal plants. It is possible to generate a high amount of electrical energy in one single plant. The disadvantages of nuclear energy can be very harmful to people and animals. Nuclear power plants produce nuclear waste after making the electricity the bad thing about this is that the waste can not be thrown away like garbage. People today are trying to find places on the earth to put all this nuclear waste. This is so hard because it would have to be away of living organisms because it is toxic and if it is touched it could kill you instantly. The radiation from the nuclear energy can kill millions of people like when America dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima thousands of people died years later from being exposed to the radiation. Radiation can also give you cancer and can also kill you after a long period of time. The nuclear waste an also blow up at any time like one time in Russia they put nuclear waste in a mountain and buried it and one afternoon it blew up the side of the mountain and killed 100 people due to all the radiation. In a nuclear power plant when an atom is split into two there is an incredible amount of force released and can cause a meltdown and can blow up the whole factory. Nuclear energy can be used for evil like in nuclear and hydrogen bombs. These weapons of mass destruction can devastate cities and towns and millions of people. Did you know that the most polluted place on Earth is Chernobyl, Ukraine due to all the nuclear waste from all the nuclear power plants? The more nuclear power plants are built, the higher is the probability of a disastrous failure somewhere in the world. The energy source for nuclear energy is Uranium. Uranium is a scarce resource, its supply is estimated to last only for the next 30 to 60 years depending on the actual demand.

Nuclear fission has been proposed as a way to nudge the path of large asteroids and comets that would otherwise impact and kill all humans on Earth. It makes a lot of energy to use for anything we want, but the radioactive waste can't be disposed off in an environment-friendly manner. Nuclear fission is currently used to produce Technetium 99m and could potentially be used to produce a variety of other isotopes that could be used as radioactive dye markers in medical imaging. Nuclear fission has been proposed for spacecraft propulsion -- Project Orion. This is one of very few designs for interstellar spacecraft that could be built with current technology. Energy produced by fusion reactor electric power plants could potentially displace energy produced by coal, oil, and natural gas electric power plants, reducing the amount of CO2 and other pollutants into the air. Nuclear fission has been proposed as a way to rapidly excavate large amounts of rock and dirt -- Operation Plowshare. In principle this may be faster and cheaper than other methods of widening the Panama canal, digging another large canal, digging a large artificial harbor in Alaska, etc.

It currently provides 19 percent of electricity in the US and a little less world-wide

Answer 1 Fusion, in general, is the joining of light atomic nuclei to form heavier ones. They don't generate heat, but actually, need the energy to occur. These are endothermic reactions, so when a star has turned most of its fuel into iron, it undergoes a dynamic change. The star has lived its life up to now in equilibrium. The gravity that would pull it all together is balanced against the outward force of the energy liberated during exothermic fusion. At some point, the star will collapse. If a star is of insufficient magnitude, the collapse will signal that the star is in its last stages of life. But in stars of sufficient magnitude, there will be much more drama. The collapse of sufficiently massive stars at the end of their iron forming stages will cause a supernova. Gravity is reclaiming the material, but it is also heating it during the collapse. This extra energy supplies sufficient heat for the fusion reactions that create elements heavier than iron up through uranium. These heavier elements are present on the earth, and they can have only come from a supernova event. The fusion reactions that create these heavy elements have tapped the heat energy created when the star collapsed. The fusion process is detailed in a number of places. You'll find links below to investigate further. Nuclear fusion is when two atoms fuse together to create a different atom. This can only occur under extreme conditions such as the conditions in the sun and many stars in our universe. The most common example of nuclear fusion is when two types of (known as isotopes of) hydrogen fuse together to create helium. The isotopes of hydrogen deuterium and tritium fuse to create helium. Deuterium contains one proton and one neutron and tritium contains two neutrons and one proton. Helium contains two protons and two neutrons so it takes the two protons it needs and the two neutrons it needs and spits out one neutron which is not needed. Nuclear fusion generates a huge amount of energy because it takes more energy to hold together two atoms then it does to hold together one. So it there is a lot of unneeded energy, which has to be released. Scientists believe that there used to be the only hydrogen in the universe but in the extreme conditions of the big bang, atoms fused together to create the atoms which are found in the universe today. Answer 2 (A brief answer)Nuclear fusion is the merging of two light nuclei into one heavier nucleus. The resulting component total mass is less than the masses of the input nuclei. This mass defect changes into energy according to the mass-energy relation of Einstein (E=Mc2 ); E is the energy, M is the mass defect, c is the light speed. The joining of nuclei

Difference between fusion and fission Nuclear fusion is taking two atoms and combining them in to one atom, while nuclear fission takes one atom and splits it into two atoms. Both reactions involve the nucleus of an atom, and in both reactions, lots and lots of energy are released. Other than that, the two reactions are pretty much opposite. Fission involves the splitting of an atomic nucleus. Fusion involves the fusing of two or more units to create a new, heavier nucleus. Links are provided to articles on both subjects that have been posted by our friends at Wikipedia, where knowledge is free. In nuclear fusion two lighter nuclides fuse (join together) to form a heavier nuclide. In nuclear fission one heavy nuclide splits into two smaller ones. These two are not necessarily identical. Nuclear fission releases energy only if the resulting nuclides are as heavy as or heavier than Iron40. Fusion releases energy only if the resulting nuclide is as light as or lighter than Iron40. It is possible to make elements heavier than Iron40 by fusion, but these reactions are strongly endothermic ( which means that a great deal of energy must be supplied from an external source). This can be done in an accelerator, but the process takes place in any quantity only in an exploding star. Nuclear fission is when a large nucleus such as uranium or plutonium splits into two smaller nuclei. When Uranium with an atomic mass of 235 absorbs a neutron and becomes Uranium 236 (its critical mass) it splits into two nuclei releasing loads of energy. Nuclear fusion is when two small nuclei (smaller the iron) fuse together to make a bigger one. The high energies and pressures are needed are very hard to recreate on earth because if you think about it the sun is hot because nuclear fusion is happening inside so we have to create the sun on earth. The only place fusion can happen naturally in stars. Fusion releases even more energy than fission. Most fusion happens between two hydrogen atoms to make a helium atom. Deuterium is hydrogen with one proton and one neutron (normal hydrogen is 1 proton only). Tritium is Hydrogen with two neutrons and one proton. These particles are what form hydrogen. If you add up the number of particles you will notice that one neutron is left over in the making of helium. This is turned into the massive amount of energy released in a fussion reaction and relased as light but mostly heat. Nuclear fision is the splitting of atoms and fusion is the combining of atoms

In fission, the atom is split into several pieces. Most often it is TWO medium size atoms of unequal mass (such as strontium and xenon) and several (1-5) separate neutrons. While trinary fission (three small atoms) occurs, binary fission is much more probable. The speed of light, c is 2.997 x 10^{8} m/s (1000 x bigger than the answer by Marque Allien). Also to get "ergs", one must not only use grams, but use c in cm/s, another factor of 100, then squared). Using mass in kg with c in m/s one gets joules.

Nuclear fission does not produce smog. Nevertheless, the use of nuclear power does not have a zero carbon footprint, and there is unquestionably smog associated with it. In the United States, nearly all enrichment of uranium is done at a facility that is powered by a coal burning power plant said to be the worst polluting coal plant in the country. This, of course, produces smog. The mining, refining, and transportation of uranium are all done with equipment typically dependent on petroleum products, and this produces smog. Building a power plant and decommissioning a power also depend on petroleum for fuel, and so there is smog associated with this. And since we have no idea how to deal with the waste nuclear fuel, we cannot even comment on smog associated with it. But the actual nuclear fission does not produce any smog at all.

Graphite is one of the materials in the world that is really good at slowing down Neutrons. We know that any kind of fission activity gives away neutrons. For every atom that is split by kicking it with a neutron, two more neutrons are released. This makes the fission process exponential in nature and in a split second we can have a nuclear explosion. The key to controlling the fission activity is to use Graphite or similar material with same properties. This material will absorb free neutrons. Many design considerations do however apply in order for this to work...

Fastern your seatbelt. We've got some ground to cover. But it won't be too difficult to grasp the fundamentals. In either fission or fussion, we are taking about nuclear processes, i.e., the physics of nuclear structure and construction/destruction of that nucleus. The big difference is fusion is the "building" of atomic nuclei, and fission is the "breaking" or "splitting" of atomic nuclei. Fusion is the bonding of atomic nuclei or nuclear particles (nucleons - protons and neutrons) to make "bigger" or "heavier" atomic nuclei. Fission, on the other hand is the splitting of the atom. As the atoms fuse or split they release energy. Lots of it. And most of it is heat energy. In nuclear weapons, the energy is released "all at once" to create a blast. If the energy is released in a "controlled" way, we can release heat at a "useable" rate and apply it to boiling water to make steam. In fusion, protons or neutrons or the nuclei of atoms are forced together and are fused to make a new atomic nucleus. The release of lots and lots of energy accompanies this reaction. That's what powers stars. Currently we can't really do any fusion reactions to make useful power. There are a few agencies working on fusion devices, but the high temperatures required to attain fusion require very special materials and controls. The current "state of the art" fusion facility is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (and a link is provided). Fusion is unlikely to become a useful source of power for many years. But what about fission? Nuclear fission involves the splitting of large atoms, usually uranium (or sometimes plutonium). When large atoms fission they produce two smaller atoms or fission fragments (and a couple of neutrons and lots of energy). The total mass of the products is less than the mass of the original atom. This mass difference is turned into energy in accordance with the Einstein equation E=mc2. Most of the energy appears in the recoil of the fission fragments, and the heat that is generated is considerable. It is that heat that we capture to turn water into steam to generate electricity. Nuclear Fission: Basics When a nucleus fissions, it splits into several smaller fragments. These fragments, or fission products, are about equal to half the original mass. Two or three neutrons are also emitted. Nuclear Fission The sum of the masses of these fragments is less than the original mass. This 'missing' mass (about 0.1 percent of the original mass) has been converted into energy according to Einstein's equation. Fission can occur when a nucleus of a heavy atom captures a neutron, or it can happen spontaneously. = Nuclear Fusion = Nuclear Fusion Nuclear energy can also be released by fusion of two light elements (elements with low atomic numbers). The power that fuels the sun and the stars is nuclear fusion. In a hydrogen bomb, two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium are fused to form a nucleus of helium and a neutron. This fusion releases 17.6 MeV of energy. Unlike nuclear fission, there is no limit on the amount of the fusion that can occur. Nuclear fusion is taking two different atoms and combining them in to one atom, while nuclear fission takes one atom and seperates it into two atoms. Fission and fusion Fission is splitting the atom, and fusion is combining two or more atoms into one atom.

A free neutron can either escape to the outside; it can be absorbed by some nucleus; or it can decay.

It depends what you mean by "renewable". Radioactive materials do not "grow" the way trees grow. There are naturally-occurring radioactive elements. Elements can also be made radioactive by various means that involve atomic collisions, and this may occur in nature or as a result of human direction. It is true that the majority of the fuel used in a reactor eventually becomes "spent". That is, it gets to a point where it stops producing useful power. It is still, however, radioactive. Spent nuclear fuel can be recycled and reused in some cases, depending on the isotope and the form of the fuel. We will probably become more successful in recycling spent fuel as our technology advances. There is no reason to suppose that nuclear fuel could not be effectively infinite, particularly as compared to resources like petroleum and coal. The amount of nuclear fuel require to produce an equivalent amount of electricity to other energy sources is a very small fraction. It is extremely efficient in terms of energy yield per kilogram of raw material.

Fission is pulling molecules apart (used in power plants to produce heat, to make steam, to turn turbines), and fusion is putting molecules together, which is what the sun uses to produce heat. Currently it is very difficult and inefficient to use fusion on earth. In a fission reaction, a very large and unstable element (generally Uranium-235) is split. When it is split, the particles scatter, and Protons collide with other atoms. This causes other atoms to split, all along releasing massive amounts of energy (equal to the mass times the speed of light squared, which is the famous E=MC2).Where C=3 multiplied by10 raised to 8. A fusion bomb takes two hydrogen atoms and rams them together using high pressure, velocity and heat. When combined, they form Helium. This releases more energy, forcing more hydrogen atoms to fuse. The Fusion bomb is actually detonated by small fission bombs set around and within it.

Nuclear fission is the splitting of an atomic nucleus. This fission event can occur spontaneously, or can be the result of something like a neutron capture event. A number of heavy elements are known to spontaneously break apart (fission). And other nuclei like, say, uranium 235 can capture a neutron which destabilizes the nucleus and induces nuclear fission to occur.

Some nuclei, notably U235 and Pu239, can be made to cause a chain reaction where neutrons are produced in nuclear fission, and propogate more subsequent neutrons so that a steady rate of fissions can be achieved. Each fission releases an amount of energy in the form of heat, which is then used in generating plant similar to that in a fossil fuelled power plant.

Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are similar in that they both involve changes in the nucleus of the atom. Another similarity is that relatively high energies (for the size of the matter involved) are associated with those nuclear changes. In general, nuclear fission is the "splitting" of the nucleus of an atom, and nuclear fusion is the fusing or combining of two smaller atomic nuclei to form a larger one. Both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are described in related questions, which are linked below. It should be noted that fission results in the release of energy. Fusion, however, can result in the release of energy, or it could require energy to occur. Fusing lighter atomic nuclei to form heavier ones releases energy up to the formation of an iron nucleus. Heavier nuclei beyond iron require energy to be put into the fusion event for it to occur. Both reactions involve the nucleus of an atom, and in both reactions, lots and lots of excess nuclear binding energy is released. Other than that, the two reactions are pretty much opposite. Fission involves the splitting of an atomic nucleus. Fusion involves the fusing of two or more smaller units to create a new, heavier nucleus. Links are provided to articles on both subjects that have been posted by our friends at Wikipedia, where knowledge is free. The similarity between nuclear fission and nuclear fuision is that they both produce huge amount of energy. These could be used to generate electricity, but scientists find it difficult to produce nuclear fusion reactions under conditions that can be safely managed as the temperatures are extremely high (around 150 million degrees Celcius). Fusion is the reaction that occurs in the sun while fission is a process that can be induced and is the splitting of a uranium (or other fissionable) atom into other lighter elements. Fission also releases a lot of usable energy.

A fissionable material that is self-sustainable on a practical level (like U-235), a material to slow down the neutrons caused by the fission (like water), a material to control the chain reaction by absorbing neutrons (like Xe-135), a material to transfer the generated heat to a converter (water again), and something to convert the heat to electricity (like a steam turbine).

Fusion refers to the connection or joining of two or more distinct things or bodies while Fission is a splitting of something into two or more parts. Nuclear fission is the division of a heavy atomic nucleus into two fragments of roughly equal mass, accompanied by the release of a large amount of energy, the binding energy of the subatomic particles. Nuclear fusion is the joining of two nuclei of light elements to form heavier ones, releasing huge amounts of energy. Fusion is when multiple nuclei are combined to form a heavier nucleus. For example, the fusion of 2 H atoms into a He atom. Fission is when one nucleus splits into multiple smaller nuclei. For example, when Uranium 235 splits into Ba and Kr nuclei. Fusion is the process that produces heat in stars, like the sun. It is safer and cleaner than fission, but we do not currently have the technology required to harness it, and Hydrogen is difficult to obtain on Earth.

if the fission was of uranium, then yes. but many transuranic elements (e.g. plutonium, americium) also fission.

Originally it was George Westinghouses' idea, but he hired Volta to construct it. It was Pearl Street Power Station. It was started on September 4, 1882, In NYC. About 85 people had enough energy to light 5000 lamps. They were billed $5 per kilowatt hour, but now we pay 9cents per kilowatt hour. $5 is our time money.

by a neutron source. nuclear reactors are always started with one to avoid a supercritical power surge from damaging the reactor. nuclear bombs are always triggered by one to make sure the reaction happens at optimal supercriticality for desired yield.