Why do nuclear power plants produce so much energy?

Question

If nuclear power plants boil water to turn a turbine to make energy then why do they make more energy than a coal power plant that does the same?

In: 28

Answer 1

Reactors are expensive. So to offset the construction cost, we started building bigger and bigger plants. The cost of a bigger reactor isn’t that much more than the cost of a small reactor. Most of the cost is in the paperwork and licensing.

Side note: the focus now is to make smaller reactors, where they are simple enough that the cost to build them drops, so we can build modules instead of giant behemoth plants.