I read that there is enough atomic power in a common grain of sand to power a city for months. However, it would be too difficult to extract from common sand, so we use uranium based sand that can more readily give up the energy in the form of heat. It's sort of like an atomic bomb that is controlled in slow motion. BBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!