How does a nuclear power plant generate electricity?

• A. Nuclear fission creates heat, which generates steam. The steam rotates the turbines, which turn the generator to produce electricity.
• B. Nuclear fission directly converts mass to electricity without moving parts
• C. Electricity is produced by cooling the reactor core with water
• D. Neutrons themselves create electricity through direct interaction with coils

Answer: (A)

Electricity in a nuclear plant comes from turning heat into motion, then motion into electrical energy. In the reactor, nuclear fission releases a large amount of heat. This heat is carried away by a coolant and used to make steam in a secondary loop. The high-pressure steam then expands and drives a turbine. The turbine is connected to a generator; as the turbine blades spin, the generator converts that mechanical energy into electrical energy through electromagnetic induction. The steam is then condensed back into water and recycled to repeat the cycle.

The other ideas don’t fit because they skip essential steps or rely on processes that don’t actually generate electricity. Directly converting mass to electricity without moving parts isn’t how plants operate, cooling the reactor isn’t how electricity is produced, and neutrons don’t create electricity by themselves. The key sequence is heat from fission → steam → turbine → generator → electricity.