It’s been more than 200 years since the widespread implementation of the steam engine.
Why is this still the most prevalent means of producing electricity? With things like fusion reactors, why is it so hard to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy?
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It’s hard to turn thermal energy into electricity because heat is kind of the lowest form of energy. It’s hard to contain, even harder to direct/transport, and everything else has a tendency to turn into heat, not the other way around.
You could try to use a FISSION reactor (they haven’t really got fusion to work reliably, yet) to heat up one end of a bunch of thermocouples, but that would be: A) really inefficient, and B) a pain to make AC current, which you want if you are transmitting the electricity any significant distance.
Using heat to boil water, and using the steam to turn a turbine, though? That’s a GREAT way to make electricity. Got some nuclear fuel? Stick it in a tank and heat the water for steam. Live somewhere with a lot of coal? Burn it to make steam! Got some good digging equipment? Dig a hole deep enough so it gets hot, pump some water down in a pipe, and use the resulting steam.
Also, using steam to turn a generator is easier to put in a location of your choice, while other methods of electrical production (wind, solar, hydroelectric) are more area specific (can’t build a hydroelectric dam if you don’t have a river)
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