What exactly comes out of the smokestacks of nuclear power plants?

Question

Is it just normal smoke as that of factories, or is it steam? ALSO, which smoke is cleaner?

Answer 1

Those are cooling towers, and that is steam coming out. So, asking which smoke is cleaner can't be answered. More exactly, many nuc plants use water to carry away the heat from the reactor. This primary water is sent to steam generators to make steam from the secondary water. This steam is then sent to turbine generators to make electricity. The condensed water from that steam needs to be cooled. It is sent to the cooling towers where the atmosphere cools it down. Then back to the steam generators. All this to keep nuclear material in the reactor room and not escape into the environment.

Answer 2

Great question!  THese are not "smokestacks" but cooling towers.  Water is circulating around the paremeter of the tower, causing it to cool, creating a tempature difference resulting in steam.

It is steam comming out of the tower.  It is very clean, as steam is just another form of water, and completely harmless to the environment.

Answer 3

the "smoke" from nclear power plants is just steam. the water goes into the reactor to cool it and is released into the cooling towers... the SMOKE from factories is normally burning fossil fuels so it contains CO2 and other pollutants

so... the steam from nuclear plants is cleaner

Answer 4

BTW it isn't steam it is water vapor.