So what really generates energy?

C does not generate energy itself! The uranium bundle acts as an extremely high-energy source of heat only, and it heats the water and turns it to steam. The steam drives a steam turbine (H), which spins a generator (G) to produce power. The generator is the real thing that generates power! The steam is then cooled and condensed to water by Cooling Water Condenser (I), and the hot water is stored in the Cooling Tower (J). The water are then released out to rivers.

Why do you need a containment structure?

As we have mentioned in Nuclear Fission, splitting uranium generates radiation, and the vessel acts as a radiation shield. The steel containment vessel is intended to prevent leakage of any radioactive gases or fluids from the plant.

The containment vessel is protected by an outer concrete building, why? 

Did you know that the outer concrete building is strong enough to survive such things as crashing jet airliners? These secondary containment structures are necessary to prevent the escape of radiation/radioactive steam in the event of an accident like the one at Three Mile Island. The absence of secondary containment structures in Russian nuclear power plants allowed radioactive material to escape in an accident at Chernobyl. We will go into details on these when we get to What Can Go Wrong.

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