How can Nuclear energy be used in peace ?
826238
Radiation therapy is often used to treat cancer.  Nuclear energy also produces much power.
122860
Nuclear weapons will never be used in a real war between two equally matched forces, as it hasn't even been used in various small/bush wars such as Iraq and Vietnam. I think it's a useless weapon, and a very dangerous one at that too. Imagine the power one lunatic could have if they got one. On the other hand, you couldn't use it in a real war because that would essentially guarantee your own destruction, as you could never be 100% sure you can eliminate every country's nukes. It's a scary weapon, and we haven't seen the last of it yet...
286082
Im guessing it can be used for atomic bombs...... and atomic watches and otehr atomic powered devices.... would nuclear power be the same?
548592
Atoms are the building blocks from which matter is formed. Everything around us is made up of atoms. Nuclear energy is contained within the center of the atom in a place known as the nucleus. Particles within the nucleus are held together by a strong force. If a large nucleus is split apart (fission), generous amounts of energy can be liberated. Small nuclei can also be combined (fusion) with an accompanying release of energy. Using this strong force that holds the nucleus together to produce energy is essentially what the field of nuclear power generation is about.\n  In the fission process certain heavy elements, such as some forms of Uranium, are split when a neutron strikes them. When they split, they release energy in the form of kinetic energy (heat) and radiation. The process not only produces energy but also additional neutrons that can be used to fission other Uranium nuclei and start a chain reaction.\n  In fusion, nuclei of light elements are brought together under conditions of high pressure and temperature, causing them to combine and produce new elements and energy.
1018555
Yes, and all our environmental problems.   At nuclear fusion temperatures you could make a fusion torch that would decompose waste into useful raw materials and transmute radioactive waste into stable elements.   A fusion reactor isn't likely to be small enough to power cars or aircraft, but the cheap energy it produces could be used to synthesise fuels for these vehicles.   We've been researching controlled nuclear fusion since the 1950s and we haven't made much progress.   But it will solve so many problems that it's worth spending vast amounts of money on this field.   Any technology that doesn't violate any fundamental laws of physics will one day work.
1078609
Hi, Kenny. You are asking for a lot of information. I have written a book, on the history of nuclear science and will link you to it to read online. This space here is awfully limited.\n\nThe short answer is that nuclear science allows us to generate electrical power out in space even when we are far away from stars like the sun. \n\nThere are two ways we do that:\n\n1. Nuclear reactors - just like the atomic power plants on earth, reactors depend upon the splitting of uranium or plutonium atoms to generate heat and then the heat is used to boil a liquid and turn a turbine. The turbine moves a coil of wire through a magnetic field and gives you electricity.\n\n2. Thermopyles - plutonium due to its alpha radioactive decay gets pretty hot naturally. If you put two dissimilar wires wrapped around each other in a heat source and then the other end of the wires in somewhere cold (like out in space), electrons will flow through them. This is called a thermocouple. If you put lots of those together, you have what is called a thermopyle. This kind of technology is pretty flawless and is used even for things like heart pacemakers.
692026
fission is used in nuclear plants to make power. HOW FISSION WORKS: In a commercial nuclear power plant, a sufficiently large quantity of fuel material (usually enriched uranium) is accumulated in a reactor pile such that a "chain reaction" occurs, in which the neutrons emitted by a single fission reaction are captured by another nucleus to trigger another reaction, and so on. This solcomhouse.com link explains the basics of nuclear fission and has some good schematic illustrations of nuclear power plants.
1172969
What? And have Peace? This administration couldn't handle it.\n\nPlease don't fight. Our ancestors didn't have oozies & atomic\nbombs. There is enough contamination on the planet without\nadding to it for something that can be resolved peacefully.
955555
There are different forms of Energy.... the energy of which you are speaking about is energy in the form of a chemical reaction, which is why ash cannot be used in its ash state... it is chemically dead unless another process is applied. The ash does still contain atomic energy in the very matter it is composed of... but to use that would require an atomic process to convert the matter into energy. However, one must realize that even the best atomic energy system used today does not extract the full potential of the energy in a substance, because to obtain the full potential we would need to convert that matter into a pure photon state. The best fission and fusion systems only convert a small amount of matter into pure energy when the substance changes from one from to another.\n\nThis is the same reason we cannot energize a rock.... the energy applied to it... does not affect the atomic stability of the protons and neutrons contained in the substance. In order to cause any atomic reaction to take place outside of a reactor to a substance like a rock, we must apply forces to contract the atomic distances between atoms and cause fusion.... The only way to do that is under high gravitational fields, as what exist in a sun or a star at the center.\n\nSo unless you want to stand with that rock in the middle of a star or a black hole.... you never get the high energy conversion outside of a reactor.
6409
Yes, bombard it with neutrons and it will release energy...\n\nWill it be efficient.. NO. but you can do so.
523367
Nuclear energy is very cost efficient if it is used carefully obviously.  However everyone knows that Iran is not interested in nuclear energy for just energy alone.  They want to be a bigger fish in the pond so to speak.  I think that some of the radicals in Iran would not hesitate to drop a nuke on Israel or the United States.
335881
Let's see...U.S.,share,nuclear,India. Scares me to think of spreading the love with anybody.Think,people,every country we try to help or deal with has an agenda.They can shake hands and sign peace treaties all day long .It means nothing.Nuclear power is an agent for power.Do not think for one minute that India or any other country would not sell their soul for an opportunity to have the power of control.It's just what we have turned into as a free world.Money,greed,and power.
972561
Nations such as France and Japan use nuclear power to generate massive amounts of electricity.  That means they're using less oil, coal and natural gas.
1157622
how bout we assimilate both coutries nuclear programs so we don't have to waste so much energy.  why everyone wanna be against each other.  why not work as a team to better life.
85377
The Reagan administration supported enourmous research into cheap power from nuclear fusion.  Unfortunately, they found out we do not have the technology to control the process on earth.  In space no problem.  Reagan wanted to use the fusion reactor to make hydrogen for fuel.  All other hydrogen programs currently being discussed use fossil fuels at a tremendous waste of energy in the process.
644601
Nuclear energy is not renewable, once the fuel is spent it can't be recharged (at least not easily).
1130985
Most nuclear weapons rely on fission (the breaking down of a nucleus into smaller nuclei).  This breakdown releases the energy that would otherwise go into holding the nucleus together.  That's not much energy for one nucleus, but breaking a few nuclei releases stray particles that bump into other nuclei and break them  -- which releases more energy, and more stray particles which bump into still more nuclei, and so on.  That's a chain reaction.  This reaction isn't limited to weapons; it also occurs in peaceful uses of nuclear technology such as reactors.  A nuclear weapon simply releases all of the available energy all at once.\n  As to predicting the reaction products, that's largely a function of what fissionable material you start with.  Nuclear physicists (which I am not) know what materials result from the nuclear decay of specific radioactive elements.  How you achieve fission is also a factor; a nucleus will break differently when hit by a fast neutron than it will when hit by a gamma ray.  Fusion is much simpler; if you start with hydrogen, the result is always helium.