Nuclear fuel is a substance that is used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile elements that are capable of nuclear fission, such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239. When the unstable nuclei of these atoms are hit by a slow-moving neutron, they split, creating two daughter nuclei and two or three more neutrons. These neutrons then go on to split more nuclei. This creates a self-sustaining chain reaction that is controlled in a nuclear reactor, or uncontrolled in a nuclear weapon.