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.


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