<Ul> <Li> Fossil - fuel power stations may also use a steam turbine generator or in the case of natural gas - fired plants may use a combustion turbine . A coal - fired power station produces heat by burning coal in a steam boiler . The steam drives a steam turbine and generator that then produces electricity . The waste products of combustion include ash, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide . Some of the gases can be removed from the waste stream to reduce pollution . </Li> <Li> Nuclear power plants use the heat generated in a nuclear reactor's core (by the fission process) to create steam which then operates a steam turbine and generator . About 20 percent of electric generation in the USA is produced by nuclear power plants . </Li> <Li> Geothermal power plants use steam extracted from hot underground rocks . These rocks are heated by the decay of radioactive material in the Earth's crust . </Li> <Li> Biomass - fuelled power plants may be fuelled by waste from sugar cane, municipal solid waste, landfill methane, or other forms of biomass . </Li> <Li> In integrated steel mills, blast furnace exhaust gas is a low - cost, although low - energy - density, fuel . </Li> <Li> Waste heat from industrial processes is occasionally concentrated enough to use for power generation, usually in a steam boiler and turbine . </Li> <Li> Solar thermal electric plants use sunlight to boil water and produce steam which turns the generator . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Fossil - fuel power stations may also use a steam turbine generator or in the case of natural gas - fired plants may use a combustion turbine . A coal - fired power station produces heat by burning coal in a steam boiler . The steam drives a steam turbine and generator that then produces electricity . The waste products of combustion include ash, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide . Some of the gases can be removed from the waste stream to reduce pollution . </Li> <Li> Nuclear power plants use the heat generated in a nuclear reactor's core (by the fission process) to create steam which then operates a steam turbine and generator . About 20 percent of electric generation in the USA is produced by nuclear power plants . </Li> <Li> Geothermal power plants use steam extracted from hot underground rocks . These rocks are heated by the decay of radioactive material in the Earth's crust . </Li>

Which component in a nuclear power plant actually produces the electrical energy
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