Nuclear power in a nutshell: 
  1. Place a chunk of radioactive material (usually uranium) in water.
  2. Stand back as the radioactive material decays, creating heat.
  3. Use the heat to boil water.
  4. Use the steam produced to spin a turbine (the same thing used to generate hydroelectric power and, in a sense, wind power).
  5. Use the turbine to generate electricity.
That's pretty much it.  Safety precautions and waste disposal make things a bit more complicated, but that's essentially the process of nuclear power generation used in pretty much every nuclear power plant on earth. 

Optional steps: 
  1. Replace all instances of the word "nuclear" with the non-word "nucular".
  2. Instruct otherwise smart people and world leaders to do the same.
#science