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How much energy can the complete fission of one kilogram of uranium or plutonium release?
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atomic bomb
The first atomic bomb test, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, July 16, 1945.
The complete fission of one kilogram of uranium or plutonium releases approximately 17.5 kilotons of TNT-equivalent explosive energy. Specifically, when one kilogram of uranium-235 undergoes complete fission, it releases energy equivalent to 17,000 tons (17 kilotons) of TNT.12
This immense release of energy is a result of the nuclear fission process, where heavy atomic nuclei split into lighter elements. The difference in binding energy between the original heavy nucleus and the resulting lighter fragments is released as energy, a phenomenon governed by Albert Einstein's mass-energy equivalence formula, .3