That’s what makes the isotope uranium-235 so special—it’s fissile, so with a bit of finessing, it can support a nuclear chain reaction, ... causing the material to decay into uranium-233.

The combined results have allowed the KamLAND team to conclude that the heat flux due to the uranium and thorium decay chains is about 20 TW with an uncertainty of about 8 TW. While the KamLAND ...

This could open up newer possibilities in making superheavy elements in the lab and understanding nuclear stability at higher ...

When an atom breaks apart, it gives out energy and more neutrons, which can then split other atoms. Get enough atoms splitting and you have the chain reaction needed for a bomb blast ...

Although natural decay of U-235 means that this is unlikely to happen again, we humans have learned to take uranium ore and start a controlled fission process in reactors, beginning in the 1940s.

There are three natural isotopes of uranium — uranium-234 (U-234), uranium-235 (U-235) and uranium-238 (U-238). U-238 is the most common one, accounting for around 99 per cent of natural uranium found ...

Nuclear reactors could be burning deep beneath the ground, two scientists have claimed. They say that uranium could become sufficiently concentrated at the base of Earth’s mantle to ignite self ...

Still, uranium has explosive potential, thanks to its ability to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. U-235 is "fissile," meaning that its nucleus can be split by thermal neutrons — neutrons with ...

To get a self-sustaining chain reaction in a nuclear plant, the proportion of uranium 235 needs to be increased from .7 percent to about 4 percent. This is done through a process called enrichment.

This assumption followed naturally from the prevailing view of nuclear decay, which involved the emission, ... Probably each part will thus give rise to a chain of disintegrations.

YouTuber Converts A Knock-Off Game Boy To Run On Nuclear Power He managed to play Tetris for an hour by harnessing the radioactive energy thrown off by trititum decay. By Alex Newhouse on July 14 ...