The steam, which is slightly radioactive, goes directly to a turbogenerator which turns its energy into electricity.
They are also cheap, consisting essentially of a sheltered, shallow body of salt water that acts as a solar collector, plus a heat-exchanging system and turbogenerator.
TVA had paid $34 per kilowatt for its Widows Creek turbogenerator; because of foreign competition and other factors, the price for similar generators has since dropped to about $14 .