The Nuclear Fuel Cycle

• Unlike other forms of power generation such as burning natural gas, nuclear fission takes place under specific circumstances and only with certain fuels. Uranium is the most common fuel used in fission power plants, and it is mined as an ore in a similar manner as coal. It is refined by an enriching process that removes less useful uranium isotopes from the fuel. The enriched uranium can then be placed in the fuel rods of a fission reactor to generate heat.
  
  

Fission Fuel Transportation Advantages

• Unlike methane or coal burning plants, which require large amounts of fuel in order to continually generate electricity, nuclear plants require relatively small amounts of material in order to operate. This means that a major cost of operating power plants -- fuel transportation -- is reduced by an extreme amount. Nuclear plants can go for years between refueling and operate almost continuously with no concerns over fuel supply interruptions. The reduced fuel mass requirements are due to the fact that fission generates energy via a nuclear process where burning fuels directly generates energy through chemical processes.
  
  

Nuclear Fission and Boilers

• The actual process for turning the energy unleashed by fission into electrical current is the same as that used in hydrocarbon-powered plants. The consumption of the plant's fuel generates heat, which is transferred to water that is passed via pipes over the reactor vessel. This water turns to steam, which is then ducted through a turbine that converts the mechanical energy provided by the rapidly moving water molecules within the steam to electric current. Fission is an advantageous process in this respect relative to burning hydrocarbons because the steam can be condensed back into a liquid and reused to cool the reactor at the same time it carries more energy to the turbines.
  
  

Abundance of Fission Fuel

• Relative to hydrocarbons there is much more energy available on Earth locked within fissionable atoms. Hydrocarbons can become scarce and even run out, and as supplies decrease and demand increases, the price for fuel will increase. Uranium is abundant and takes up little space. In addition the byproducts of many nuclear fission plants can themselves be processed and reused as fuel for fission. This process further extends the supply of energy that can be derived from the fission of uranium relative to hydrocarbons or even perfectly renewable power sources, which are dependent on weather conditions to operate.