Physical Transformation AtlasPTA
Coupling family · coupling:nuclear-thermal

Nuclear heat

Decay, fission or fusion energy thermalised into a temperature difference for a downstream thermal converter.

Nuclear physicsalso: decay heat, radioisotope heater, nuclear heat

Atlas record: 3 claims reference this coupling family — 3 established.

Explorerelations · matrix context · sources · cite

3claims0enumerated routes0routes with complete-composition evidence0candidate routes not searched4cited sources

Relations

member of · 3
Radioisotope heating—member of→Nuclear heatestablished
Nuclear fission—member of→Nuclear heatestablished
  • as a heat source for a conventional steam cycle
Nuclear fusion—member of→Nuclear heatestablished

Matrix context

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

D.01 Temperature gradientD.02 Pressure gradientD.03 Concentration gradientD.04 Salinity gradientD.05 Chemical potential differenceD.06 Electric potential differenceD.07 Changing magnetic fluxD.08 Mechanical stress or strainD.09 Mechanical vibrationD.10 Bulk fluid flowD.11 Incident radiation fluxD.12 Radiative imbalance with the skyD.13 Spin accumulationD.14 Metastable phaseD.15 Surface energy differenceD.16 Capillary pressureD.17 Humidity gradientD.18 Osmotic pressure differenceD.19 Gravitational potential differenceD.20 Nuclear binding-energy differenceD.21 Thermal energy at uniform temperatureD.22 Quantum vacuum fluctuationsD.23 Acoustic fieldD.24 Temporal temperature changeD.25 Changing electric field

Cited sources · 4

  1. [1]
    M. A. Prelas, et al.. A review of nuclear batteries (2014)
    Progress in Nuclear Energy 75, 117–148 · doi:10.1016/j.pnucene.2014.04.007 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  2. [2]
    A. Bejan. Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (4th ed.) (2016)
    Wiley · doi:10.1002/9781119245964 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  3. [3]
    H. A. Bethe. Energy production in stars (1939)
    Physical Review 55, 434 · doi:10.1103/PhysRev.55.434 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  4. [4]
    J. D. Lawson. Some criteria for a power producing thermonuclear reactor (1957)
    Proceedings of the Physical Society B 70, 6–10 · doi:10.1088/0370-1301/70/1/303 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record

Cite this entity

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). entity coupling:nuclear-thermal: Nuclear heat. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/e/coupling/nuclear-thermal

Ids and matrix addresses are stable across revisions; the revision hash identifies the exact canonical files the record was compiled from and is meta.data_hash in every /api export. Reuse terms: see the license field in any export.