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

>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?

Boiling water to spin a turbine isn’t a magic energy creation process. Energy cannot be created, it’s just moved around from one state into another. Steam turbines are a way of transforming heat energy into electric energy. For a coal power plant that heat energy comes from the chemical energy stored in the bonds of the coal. For a nuclear power plant the heat energy comes from the nuclear bonds within the fissile material. The latter is orders of magnitude stronger than the former. Nuclear power plants **boil more water** per kg of fuel.