Uranium is a heavy metal, mined from the ground like any other essential commodity, such as coal or iron ore. It is not of much importance when it is first mined, but becomes important when it has gone through a process inside a nuclear reactor wherein its atoms split apart in a process called fission, and that reaction releases an enormous amount of heat. Illustration by The Geostrata Heat boils water into steam, then the steam spins a turbine, which then generates electrici

“The winds of change are with us now.” When U.S. President George H.W. Bush spoke these words in 1991, he expressed hope for a " new world order ." The Cold War was about to end, and the ideological hostility between Moscow and Washington was receding. This seemed to suggest that a much more cooperative international security system might be possible, one in which nuclear dangers could be contained through ambitious arms control measures . Illustration by The Geostrata With