Operations Nuclear powerplants are a major source of electricity in the United States and throughout most of the world. They generate about 20 percent of our nation's total electricity. Careful planning, good engineering and design, strict licensing and regulation, intensive training of operators, and thorough environmental monitoring help to ensure that nuclear powerplants operate safely. In fact, no powerplant accident has harmed a member of the public in the entire history of U.S. commercial nuclear power. How Nuclear Reactors Work Both nuclear and non-nuclear powerplants produce electricity in much the same way.
Water is heated and converted to stream, which in turn drives a turbine attached to a generator.
In non-nuclear plants, the water is heated by fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, or oil. In nuclear powerplants, the water is heated by the energy from a process called nuclear fission. In the 1930s, scientists discovered that if they bombarded atoms of uranium with high-energy neutrons the uranium atoms would split apart, or fission. When this happens, they release excess energy as well as more neutrons, which can then strike other atoms and keep the fission process going. This chain reaction is the basis for nuclear powerplant operations.