Any fission reactor basically works the same. An unstable atom like uranium or plutonium breaks apart, creating fast neutrons. There’s a chance some of those neutrons will strike nearby unstable ...

Once detonated, the explosives condense the plutonium surrounding the case so intensely that it triggers a fission reaction. The transition from “atomic” to “thermonuclear” designation ...

Plutonium pits are hollow spheres that cause the nuclear explosion of these deadly weapons. Usually, a chemical explosion ...

is the spent fuel from the fission reaction. These consist of roughly 3% waste isotopes, 1% plutonium isotopes, and 96% uranium isotopes. This waste is high in transuranic elements, which have ...

It relies on the absorption of neutrons by heavy nuclei, such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239. Once a neutron collides with an unstable nucleus, the fission reaction can proceed without extreme ...

By the end of the year the physicist Werner Heisenberg had calculated that nuclear fission chain reactions might be ... into "element 94," now called plutonium. Like uranium 235, element 94 ...

Each fission reaction releases a huge amount of energy ... which converts long-lived nuclear waste (the minor actinides plus, if desired, plutonium) into short-term non-fissile waste that can ...

But the neutrons are much more likely to trigger new fission events if ... in breeding weapons-grade plutonium from common uranium. In a heavy-water nuclear reactor, when neutrons bombard U ...

Nuclear energy is created by a reaction called nuclear fission. Now for the science bit. Splitting atoms such uranium or plutonium creates heat – and a lot of it. We do this by firing a neutron ...