Science Simplified: What Is Nuclear Energy? [Video]

What Is Nuclear Energy?

Nuclear power is the world’s largest and most reliable source of clean energy, and supplies electricity to the homes of tens of millions in America each and every day. To fight climate change, the world will need new and better ways of leveraging this energy source, which is produced by nuclear reactors through a process that generates zero greenhouse gases. But how do nuclear reactors deliver so much power without emissions? — It all starts with heat.

Roger Blomquist, a Principal Nuclear Engineer in the Nuclear Engineering Division, breaks down nuclear energy—the world’s largest and most reliable source of clean energy. Tens of millions in America rely on nuclear energy each day to generate the electricity that power their homes. The process of converting nuclear energy into electricity begins in a nuclear reactor. In a reactor, atoms of an element known as uranium split, creating heat. That heat is used …