How does a nuclear reactor work?
A reactor is a machine to produce heat by breaking down the nuclei of the fuel atoms in a huge vessel (nuclear fission). Water under pressure evacuates the heat produced and creates vapour to activate a turbine connected to an alternator, finally producing electric current. The reactor fuel is an oxide of uranium 235, whose nuclei can be broken down fairly easily to liberate a significant amount of heat but also creates wastes, some of them highly radioactive.
