STAFF CORRESPONDENT

How nuclear energy and then electricity are produced is often feared as rocket science. The fact is that it is not that difficult to understand. It is, however, difficult to get it done safely and keep it under control.

Nuclear energy can be had in two ways. Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission.

In the case of nuclear fusion, two atoms are hammered into one, which releases a lot of energy. For example, the sun is currently fusing hydrogen atoms into helium. The energy released by this process lights up the sun and sustains life on earth. The problem is, man has not been able to reliably replicate the sun despite advancements in science and technology.

What man has been able to do, reliably and somewhat cheaply, is nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, an atom is split, which also releases energy.

The best way to do this, so far, is to hit a uranium-235 atom with a neutron, a sub-atomic particle.

When struck, the uranium-235 splits and releases a lot of energy and a few neutrons that can hit other uranium-235 atoms. If this chain reaction is not controlled, due to accidents, incidents or otherwise, bad things happen. Chernobyl or Fukushima stopped being names of places and became names of disasters.

To control this reaction, control rods with neutron absorbers are installed along with uranium fuel rods inside a reactor’s core. The

SEE PAGE 12 COL 1