How nuclear power plants generate electricity?

Figure: Nuclear power plant.

Nuclear power plants generate electricity in much the same way that other thermal power plants generate electricity. The combustion of a fuel is used to generate heat, the heat is used to create steam, and the steam is used to spin turbines, which in turn generate electricity. The difference with nuclear power plants is that instead of using the combustion of a fuel to generate heat, they use nuclear fission to generate heat. Nuclear fission in simple terms is the splitting of large atoms into smaller atoms; this process releases vast amounts of energy.  

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