Nuclear power
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Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear decay processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes such as Voyager 2. Generating electricity from fusion power remains the focus of international research.
The Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland
The first light bulbs ever lit by electricity generated by nuclear power at EBR-1 at Argonne National Laboratory-West, December 20, 1951.
The launching ceremony of the USS Nautilus January 1954. In 1958 it would become the first vessel to reach the North Pole.
The Calder Hall nuclear power station in the United Kingdom, the world's first commercial nuclear power station.
Nuclear fission
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Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactive decay.
The cooling towers of the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant in Germany
The mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on 9 August 1945 rose over 18 kilometres (11 mi) above the bomb's hypocenter. An estimated 39,000 people were killed by the atomic bomb, of whom 23,145–28,113 were Japanese factory workers, 2,000 were Korean slave laborers, and 150 were Japanese combatants.
Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in 1912
The nuclear fission display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The table and instruments are originals, but would not have been together in the same room.