Can nuclear power actually power anything?

Answer 1

Yes, nuclear power can directly power things. But we usually use the thermal energy generated by nuclear reactions to "power" things. We collect the heat, boil water to make steam, and spin turbines (with an attached generator) to make electricity. A radioactive source generated heat to drive a thermoelectric generator to power up a "deep" space probe. (The probe will be far from the sun and solar panels won't be sufficient to power things up.) We've seen applications where the old Soviet Union used a "nuclear pump" (a nuclear bomb) to power a beam weapon. And designers have come up with nuclear engines for space ships. Both of these directly use the energy of nuclear power to "power" something. But we don't normally encounter direct use of nuclear energy to do work.