Pub. 4 2014 Issue 1

MEMBER PROFILE 18 AT THE CENTER OF UTAH INDUSTRY N uclear energy can be used to make electricity, but first it must be released. It can be released from atoms in two ways: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy. Nuclear power plants use this energy to produce electricity. In nuclear fusion, energy is released when atoms are combined or fused together to form a larger atom. This is how the sun produces energy. Fusion is the subject of ongoing research, but it is not yet clear that it will ever be a commercially viable technology for electricity generation. The fuel most widely used by nuclear plants for nuclear fission is uranium. Uranium is nonrenewable, though it is a common metal found in rocks world-wide. Nuclear plants use a certain kind of uranium, referred to as U-235, for fuel because its atoms are easily split apart. Though uranium is quite common, about 100 times more common than silver, U-235 is relatively rare. Most U.S. uranium is mined in the western United States. Once uranium is mined, the U-235 must be extracted and processed before it can be used as a fuel. During nuclear fission, a small particle called a neutron hits the uranium atom and splits it, releasing a great amount of energy as heat and radiation. More neutrons are also released. These neutrons go on to bombard other uranium Atoms are tiny particles that make up every object in the universe. Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus (core) of an atom. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold the nucleus together. Energy is released when those bonds are broken. NUCLEAR POWER IN THE U.S. atoms, and the process repeats itself over and over again, which is called a chain reaction. Electricity has been generated by burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) since before the turn of the 20th century. An experimental reactor used uranium to generate electricity for the first time in December 1951, but more than half a decade passed before uranium contributed significantly to commercial electricity generation. In 1957, the first large-scale U.S. commercial nuclear power plant opened at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. The use of nuclear-generated electricity has grown substantially since then. Nuclear power as a percentage of total U.S. electricity generation increased quickly from nearly 5% in 1973 to 9% in 1975 and then to the current level of about 20% by 1988. Ac co r d i ng t o t he U.S. Ene r gy Information Administration, there are currently 104 operable commercial nuclear reactors at 65 nuclear power plants. Since 1990, the share of the nation’s total electricity supply provided