How does nuclear energy actually make electricity?

A nuclear power plant is an elegantly simple machine: it uses the heat of splitting atoms to boil water, spin a turbine, and make electricity. The back end is the same as a coal or gas plant — but the heat comes from a controlled chain reaction instead of combustion, so a reactor runs around the clock producing no smoke and no carbon dioxide.

That combination — clean, dense, always-on power from a tiny amount of fuel — is what makes nuclear one of the most remarkable energy technologies humans have ever built, and a big reason interest in it is surging again worldwide.