Making Electricity

This is a typical nuclear fission reactor.

A nuclear power station is similar to a power station powered by the combustion of fossil fuels or biomass. In such a station the fuel is burnt in a boiler, the heat this produces it uses to heat water into steam in the pipes that cover the roof and walls of the boiler. This steam is used to turn a turbine which is connected to a generator that produces electricity (see GCSE Physics 3 and A2 Unit 4). Steam enters the cooling towers where is it condensed into water to be used again.

In a nuclear fission reactor the heat is produced in a different way.