Nuclear power contributed about 20% of U.S. electricity generation over the past two decades (DOE "Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program").

Nuclear power plants generate electricity in the same way as any other steam-electric power plant. Water is heated, and steam from the boiling water turns turbines and generates electricity. The main difference is that heat from a self-sustaining chain reaction boils the water in a nuclear power plant, as opposed to burning fuels in fossil fuel plants (DOE Office of Nuclear Energy "History").

Photo from Tennessee Valley Authority and
DOE ("Nuclear Reactor Technologies")

Photo by David Parsons, NREL 06705

Renewable energy technical potential, as defined by Lopez et al. 2012, represents the achievable energy generation of a particular technology given system performance, topographic limitations, and environmental and land-use constraints. Technical resource potential corresponds most closely to fossil reserves, as both can be characterized by the prospect of commercial feasibility and depend strongly on available technology at the time of the resource assessment. Uranium reserves in the United States are assessed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS, "Uranium Resources and Environmental Investigations").