How does a nuclear power work?

The nuclear reactors currently operating in the United States are either boiling water reactors or pressurized water reactors. The names can be a bit misleading: Both use steam to power a generator, but the difference is how they create it. A boiling water reactor heats up the water in the reactor until it boils into steam and spins the turbine. read more

Commercial nuclear power plants range in size from about 60 megawatts for the first generation of plants in the early 1960s, to over 1000 megawatts. Many plants contain more than one reactor. The Palo Verde plant in Arizona, for example, is made up of three separate reactors, each with a capacity of 1,334 megawatts. read more