I have looked up generators and the such on Wikipedia, and I don't understand why we chiefly use nuclear power instead of generators and batteries.

I don't understand electricity much (which is why I'm here!) and when I look at capacitors and generators and batteries, I just don't get why we use nuclear power instead of generators and batteries or why capacitors don't generate electricity.*

The reason I ask all this is because I've been working on a mechanism that would turn a generator and subsequently generate electricity, but I'm afraid to talk to scientists about it because I feel like there may not even be a need for it! (and also it may be implausible, but that is not the point of this post)

I feel like there is probably a basic, obvious answer to this question - explain it to me!

*I know this could be hard to answer because you may not even know what to explain - I'm not even sure what it is that I don't understand, so please don't feel like you would have to answer that.

All forms of electrical power generation require the conversion of energy from one form to another that ultimately provides the work to turn a generator. Some examples:

1. For coal, oil, or natural gas fired plants fuel is burned to create heat that turns water to steam under very high pressure; that steams is used to turn a turbine which is connected to a generator; the generator turns and creates electricity.
2. For nuclear plants the heat source is radioactive decay of uranium atoms, which creates heat, to turn water to steam, to turn a turbine, to turn a generator. So other than the heat source and the attendant requirements to keep a radioactive process safe, a nuclear plant is quite similar to a coal or nartural gas plant.
3. For wind or hydro-electric power generation the kinetic energy of the wind or flowing water directly turns a turbine, which is connected to a generator to create electricity.

In all cases there is a generator that must be turned; there are simply different sources of energy to cause the turbine to rotate.

As for capacitors: they do not generate electricity, they store it, much like a water tank is used to store water, not create it. You pour water into a tank and some time later you can extract it - same with a capacitor: you store an electrical charge in it and some time later you can recover it. So a capacitor is similar to a battery but is typically designed for short charging and discharging cycles, with lower energy capacity than a battery.

12.3% of world power is Nuclear, not what I would call "chiefly". If you are thinking about DC as a commercial power source for homes, that was dismissed a long time ago when Edison was a big proponent over Tesla who was an AC man. Many benefits of AC among which is the ability to use transformers to raise and lower voltages. For a home application, solar or possibly wind is suitable IF you have plenty of sun or wind. You generate DC, charge batteries and then need a big inverter for home AC. Not typically useful with central AC, electric ovens etc. Off the grid with all gas systems and only solar for lighting is a possibility. Exactly what type of generator are you thinking about? Barring waste disposal, Nuclear is the cleanest energy generating source. Many people tout hydro but is does grind up a lot of fish as they found out on Lake Russell, GA, near me.

A battery must be charged and where would you get that electrcity from? Nuclear, dams, wind all use generators to produce current. Some form of energy turns the generator to produce the power. Nuclear, water, wind, tide are just forms of energy like coal and wood burning.