what are nuclear plants for
How Nuclear Plants Generate Electricity. Nuclear plants, like plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas, produce electricity by boiling water into steam. This steam then turns turbines to produce electricity. The difference is that nuclear plants do not burn anything. Instead, they use uranium fuel, consisting of solid ceramic pellets, to produce electricity through a process called fission. Nuclear power plants obtain the heat needed to produce steam through a physical process. This process, called fission, entails the splitting of atoms of uranium in a nuclear reactor. The uranium fuel consists of small, hard ceramic pellets that are packaged into long, vertical tubes. Bundles of this fuel are inserted into the reactor.