Introduction
Nuclear reactors are currently used to create enormous amounts of
power through the process of nuclear fission. Sometime in the
future, the process of fusion will also be utilized to create large
amounts of power, currently the best example of a fusion reactor is
the sun, which due to it's temperature has the ability to fuse atoms
together. There are three types of fission reactors currently used
throughout the world, power reactors to produce energy, research
reactors to produce specific isotopes used in medical or industrial
use, and breeder reactors used to produce material for other
reactors or nuclear weapons. As of January 2015, there are 439
nuclear reactors being used for power generation, with an additional
69 under construction.[1] The United States,
France, and Japan have the most nuclear reactors. A full list of
reactors by country can be found here.