Nuclear Energy Chemical reactions: a few eV Nuclear fission reactions: hundreds of mev per atom Pushed apart by Coulomb repulsion, the positively charged energetic fission fragments move away form the site of the fission reaction and come to stop in the surrounding material. In this way their kinetic energy very quickly becomes heat energy in the material 复旦大学环境科学与工程系 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan UniversityNuclear Energy Chemical reactions: a few eV Nuclear fission reactions: hundreds of MeV per atom Pushed apart by Coulomb repulsion, the positively charged energetic fission fragments move away form the site of the fission reaction and come to stop in the surrounding material. In this way their kinetic energy very quickly becomes heat energy in the material