Radiotherapy uses radiation to target and kill cancerous cells. The materials used are typically made in a nuclear reactor.

Nuclear energy generates the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of all major energy sources.

Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) are the second most common nuclear reactor type and work by heating water in the core until it turns into steam, which then goes on to drive turbines.

Fusion is the process that powers the sun and other stars, where hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form helium.

Boilers turn water into steam using heat from the reactor. Heat that cannot be extracted from the steam is later rejected into the atmosphere using the cooling towers.

Fuel rods and fuel assemblies can be enormous. They are typically up to 4 metres long.

Wilhelm Röntgen took the world’s first medical X-Ray on the 22nd of December 1895. Shown is his wife’s hand, wearing a ring.

The energy released during a fission reaction comes from mass being turned into energy.

Containment buildings prevent radioactive release, act as radiation shielding, and protect the reactor from external threats.

Workers observe instruments in the main control room.

Cherenkov radiation causes a blue shine under water. The phenomenon is caused by charged particles traveling through the medium.

Bikini Atoll, a small ring of islands in the Marshall Islands, became a significant site in the history of nuclear weapons testing. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 23 nuclear tests at this remote location.

Magnox reactors were some of the world’s first commercial nuclear reactors. The name “Magnox” comes from the magnesium-aluminium alloy (Magnesium Non-Oxidising) used to clad the natural uranium fuel rods.

A number of uranium cubes produced during the Manhattan Project. 

Uranium can be used to stain glass, resulting in a yellow or green colour, as well as glowing bright green under UV light.

Steam generators act as the interface between the primary and secondary cooling circuit, transferring heat away from the reactor.

Radioactive waste is often stabilised and encased to keep it secure. Vitrification involves embedding waste into glass.

France used nuclear energy to generate almost 80% of its total energy between the mid 90s and the mid 2010s.

If nuclear fuel is reprocessed, only 3% of the spent fuel goes to waste. The rest can be reused.

Various well known automotive manufacturers created concepts for nuclear-powered cars.

Spent nuclear fuel is highly radioactive and is only handled remotely by huge machines and typically while submerged under water.

A reactor is filled to the brim with control instrumentation which monitors every aspect of the reactor’s operation.

The nuclear industry is made up of many different occupations and specialisms. You can learn about these using our ‘Workforce’ section.

Space craft can be powered using radioactive materials. NASA has flown more than 25 missions carrying a nuclear power system.

Decommissioning is the process of shutting down, cleaning up, and dismantling a nuclear power station.

Uranium goes through a range of different stages to turn it into nuclear fuel. The most recognisable of these is called yellowcake.

Gas centrifuges are a common way of enriching uranium. To achieve this, the devices must spin at over 50000 rotations per minute.

Uranium is not the only nuclear fuel. Other fissile elements like Plutonium or even fuel mixtures can be used for energy generation.

The Core of Windscale Unit 1 overheated and caught fire on the 10th of October 1957.

Enrico Fermi lead an experiment on the 2nd of December 1942, initiating the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.