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 ...

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.

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.

Nuclear energy is growing around the world after a twenty-five-year lull. Forty-four reactors are under construction in China, Russia and India alone (NEI), five in the United States, and over 600 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...