- For the commercial production of electricity from nuclear energy, see Nuclear power.
- For the military uses of nuclear energy, see Nuclear weapon or Nuclear marine propulsion.
Nuclear energy is energy released from the nucleus of an atom. It follows the conversion of its mass to energy consistent with Albert Einstein's formula E=mc² in which E = Energy, m = Mass and c = the Constant Speed of Light. However, the mass-energy equivalence does not explain how the reaction occurs, but rather nuclear forces do.
Nuclear energy is released by one of three nuclear reactions:
- Fusion, the fusing together of atomic particles.
- Fission, the breaking of the binding forces of an atom's nucleus.
