Nuclear Energy is a means of generating electricity through fission at a centralized location, such as a power plant. These plants produce energy by generating steam, which turns turbines, generating electricity. This process is similar for both coal and nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants, however, generate steam not by burning fuel, but through the use of uranium fuel.
The fuel used to power nuclear reactors is made of two types of uranium, U-238 and U-235, formed into small pellets. U-235 – a less stable form of the atom – fissions, or splits. The neutrons released from the splitting U-235 atoms hit other uranium atoms, causing them to fission as well. This chain reaction generates heat, which drives the steam turbines that create electricity. Each pellet – and there may be thousands of them in a single reactor – can generate as much electricity as one ton of coal. [1]
After the nuclear fuel has been used, it contains many radioactive byproducts that must be stored for long periods of time (thousands of years) in a safe location. Alternatively, the fuel may be recycled and used again.
Source: Nuclear Energy Institute, Electric Power Generation, Accessed 4/13/09, http://www.nei.org/howitworks/electricpowergeneration/
Research by Margaret Rich
