Some info.

Media:

Debate about nuclear power: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdMHHIO5tQM

Nuclear power: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-2R5lFYx_Q

Nuclear power accounts for about 19 percent of the total net electricity generated in the United States, about as much as the electricity used in California, Texas and New York, the three states with the most people. In 2005, there were 66 nuclear power plants (composed of 104 licensed nuclear reactors) throughout the United States. Six of these states rely on nuclear power for more than 50 percent of their energy. Worldwide, 434 reactors generate electricity in 33 countries.

http://www.solcomhouse.com/nuclear.htm

Safety of nuclear power?

Nuclear safety covers the actions taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents or to limit their consequences. This covers nuclear power plants as well as all other nuclear facilities, the transportation of nuclear materials, the use and storage of nuclear materials for medical, power, industry, and military uses. In addition, there are safety issues involved in products created with radioactive materials. Some of the products are legacy ones (such as watch faces), others, like smoke detectors, are still being produced.

The topic of nuclear safety covers:
The research and testing of the possible incidents/events at a nuclear power plant,
What equipment and actions are designed to prevent those incidents/events from having serious consequences,
The calculation of the probabilities of multiple systems and/or actions failing thus allowing serious consequences,
The evaluation of the worst-possible timing and scope of those serious consequences (the worst-possible in extreme cases being a release of radiation),
The actions taken to protect the public during a release of radiation,
The training and rehearsals performed to ensure readiness in case an incident/event occurs.

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction and creates heat—which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine can be used for mechanical work and also to generate electricity.

How Nuclear Power Works?

Nuclear power plants provide about 17 percent of the world's electricity. Some countries depend more on nuclear power for electricity than others. In France, for instance, about 75 percent of the electricity is generated from nuclear power, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the United States, nuclear power supplies about 15 percent of the electricity overall, but some states get more power from nuclear plants than others. There are more than 400 nuclear power plants around the world, with more than 100 in the United States.

What is the Uranium?

Uranium is a fairly common element on Earth, incorporated into the planet during the planet's formation. Uranium is originally formed in stars. Old stars exploded, and the dust from these shattered stars aggregated together to form our planet. Uranium-238 (U-238) has an extremely long half-life (4.5 billion years), and therefore is still present in fairly large quantities. U-238 makes up 99 percent of the uranium on the planet. U-235 makes up about 0.7 percent of the remaining uranium found naturally, while U-234 is even more rare and is formed by the decay of U-238. (Uranium-238 goes through many stages or alpha and beta decay to form a stable isotope of lead, and U-234 is one link in that chain.)

U-235 ??

Uranium-235 has an interesting property that makes it useful for both nuclear power production and for nuclear bomb production. U-235 decays naturally, just as U-238 does, by alpha radiation. U-235 also undergoes spontaneous fission a small percentage of the time. However, U-235 is one of the few materials that can undergo induced fission. If a free neutron runs into a U-235 nucleus, the nucleus will absorb the neutron without hesitation, become unstable and split immediately. See How Nuclear Radiation Works for complete details.