The heavy nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei, (the fission products), releasing kinetic energy, gamma radiation, and free neutrons. When a large fissile atomic nucleus such as uranium-235, uranium-233, or plutonium-239 absorbs a neutron, it may undergo nuclear fission. In the early era of nuclear reactors (1940s), a reactor was known as a nuclear pile or atomic pile (so-called because the graphite moderator blocks of the first reactor to reach criticality were stacked in a pile). As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports there are 422 nuclear power reactors and 223 nuclear research reactors in operation around the world. Some reactors are used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use, or for production of weapons-grade plutonium. Nuclear generated steam in principle can be used for industrial process heat or for district heating. These either drive a ship's propellers or turn electrical generators' shafts. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid (water or gas), which in turn runs through steam turbines. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Core of CROCUS, a small nuclear reactor used for research at the EPFL in SwitzerlandĪ nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions.
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