Introduction of Nuclear Energy:

What Is Nuclear?

Nuclear Energy is one of the many natural resources that we know how to turn into heat and electricity. It is, by far, the most energy-dense of all these natural resources, meaning we can extract more heat and electricity from a given amount of it than from an equivalent amount of anything else. As an example, consider a chunk of coal and chunk of natural (un-enriched) uranium, both weighing the same (1 kg) and both mined and isolated straight out of the earth. If we could suck all the energy out of the coal, it would run a 100W light-bulb for about 4 days. With the uranium, we could run the bulb for about 180 years. That’s just using the good kind of uranium, too. If we used a fast reactor and sucked all the energy from the not-so-good atoms in the same block of uranium, the light bulb could burn for 24,000 years. This kind of energy density eliminates huge amounts of the environmental footprint required to use less dense fuels, such as huge coal mines, massive gas and oil fields, trainloads of fuel shipments, and expansive wind or solar farms. Oh, and nuclear reactors do this all without releasing any pollutants into the environment.

CO2 Emissions of Several Power Sources

How Does Nuclear Energy Work?

To really understand nuclear energy, you have to first understand the general mechanics of the process in creating nuclear power. Nuclear energy occurs during a process called nuclear fission, where the atomic nucleus of an element absorbs a neutron and splits the atom into two or more smaller nuclei and releases a large amount of energy. Nuclear power plants harness this thermal energy to boil water and generate steam, which in turn powers a steam turbine and creates electricity.

Nuclear power can come from the 'fission' of many different kinds of elements including, uranium, plutonium, or thorium. However, almost all of the nuclear power generated today comes from uranium. Today, almost 20% of all the electricity produced in the United States comes from using nuclear power.

Nuclear Fission and Fusion Reactor: 
Nuclear Fusion: 
also known as thermonuclear reactors, fusion reaction sustained by very high temperature approaching the surface temperature of the sun

Nuclear Fission: 
fission reaction sustained by neutrons and fission reactors sub-classified by neutron energy

Resources:
http://www.whatisnuclear.com/
http://www.energybeta.com/nuclearenergy/the-clean-truth-of-nuclear-energy-as-a-renewable-resource/