An advantage of nuclear energy is that fission creates huge amounts of energy.

• A. Geothermal
• B. Solar
• C. Wind
• D. Nuclear

Answer: (D)

The main concept here is energy density—the amount of energy released per unit of fuel. Fission splits heavy nuclei into lighter ones and releases a large amount of energy in the process. That means a small amount of nuclear fuel can produce a huge amount of heat, and thus electricity, compared with other energy sources.

Geothermal, solar, and wind rely on natural processes and capture energy from the environment, so they don’t produce energy in the same dense, per-mass way as nuclear fission. Nuclear energy uses fission to unleash a very large energy output from a relatively small amount of fuel, making it advantageous for generating substantial power from limited fuel.