Since 1939 people have known of a way to produce energy without using water power or fossil fuels. This new way is to release some of the energy that is held inside the the atoms of the metal uranium. Energy obtained in this way is called atomic energy. Atomic energy has been used in bombs since 1945. Now we are beginning to use it to produce electricity.
Atomic energy is released from a uranium atom by splitting it into two almost equal parts.
This process of splitting a large atom is called fission. When the atom is split, part of its mass, or heaviness, is changed into energy. Splitting a small amount of uranium produces a large amount of energy. In 1954 the first submarine driven by nuclear power, the Nautilus, was launched. In 1959 the first merchant ship driven by nuclear power, the Savannah, was completed.