Point Beach - How Point Beach Nuclear Plant Works

All power plants operate in much the same way. Water is heated and turned into steam by using fuel such as coal, natural gas or oil. In a nuclear power plant, however, the fuel is uranium.

Unlike other power plants, however, nuclear power plants do not burn fuel. Instead, the process - called Fission - works this way:

• Tiny parts of the uranium, known as atoms, are made to split, or fission.
  
• During fission, even smaller particles of the atom, called neutrons, are released.
  
• The neutrons strike more uranium atoms, resulting in the release of heat needed to generate electricity.