This cannot be possible.” That was the thought racing through physicist Francis Perrin’s mind in May 1972. He was examining a ...

Fermi, among others, realized that nuclear ... chain reaction. He did this by setting up the equipment -- atomic pile -- so that he could insert a neutron-absorbing material into the midst of the ...

This chain reaction is what makes nuclear weapons ... to maximize the energy released in a very short time. Nuclear fission was discovered in the 1930s and was quickly recognized for its ...

In an unassuming industrial park 30 miles outside Boston, engineers are building a futuristic machine to replicate the energy that powers the stars. If all goes to plan, it could be the key to ...

Scientists have built the first-ever thorium reactor. Thorium is both more easily accessible and less dangerous than ...

Here’s a look at the International Atomic Energy Agency and nuclear power. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspects nuclear and related facilities under safeguard agreements. Most ...

achieved a controlled and sustained nuclear fission chain reaction. During the last months of the war, a small group of scientists working in secret under Diebner and with the strong support of ...

The word “nuclear ... Unlike fission, fusion doesn’t create gobs of radioactive waste for us to store for thousands of years. Fission is a chain reaction that can spiral out of control ...

What’s the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion ... No, because fusion energy production is not based on a chain reaction, as is fission. Plasma must be kept at very high temperatures ...

Yet despite improvements in the design of nuclear-fission ... reactor's fuel rods. Each fission reaction releases a huge amount of energy (about 200 MeV) but requires a chain reaction for the ...

Manchester is the birthplace of nuclear ... reaction in laboratories at the University. Rutherford’s discovery is now often described as ‘splitting the atom’ in popular accounts, but this should not ...