Hi, and thanks for your question.
The biggest use of nuclear technology is to generate electricity. In total, nuclear power plants supply about 12% of the world's electricity (that's almost 3,000,000,000 100-Watt light bulbs!). In addition to generating electricity, nuclear technology (radiation and radioisotopes) is also used in medicine (treat cancer), agriculture (fertilizer), and space (to power the Mars rover!).

We live in a world with over 7 billion people, and with the population expected to increase to 9 billion people by the year 2050, it's important to understand different energy sources (including nuclear). Our society needs bright thinkers like you to help meet the energy needs of the future!

So as surprising as it may seem, no product is really made out of nuclear energy. The way we get nuclear energy is by splitting large atoms called Uranium in a process called “fission.” The energy from this process is used to heat water. That’s it. A nuclear power plant is basically like a giant tea kettle. The reason why we want to heat water is that when water boils, it makes steam. This steam can then move the inner parts of a “turbine” which lets the turbine move a magnet back and forth. When a magnet is moved back and forth in a loop of wire, it generates electricity. So the nuclear energy is used to make electricity.

Nuclear energy comes from the splitting of atoms into their components. This is called fission.Fission releases a lot of energy in the form of heat. In a nuclear power plant, the heat from fission is used to boil water and make high-pressure steam, which turns a turbine to produce electricity. This is almost exactly how most other power plants work! The main difference is that in other kinds of power plants the heat to boil water usually comes from burning something like coal, instead of from fission.

Electricity from all power plants goes into the electricity grid, and from there it powers our homes, cities, and businesses.