Much of the energy released with nuclear fission manifests itself as kinetic energy. As the particles are slowed by bouncing off of other particles in the reactor, the KE is converted into heat. Steam turbines are a relatively efficient way of converting the heat energy (lower thermodynamic value) into electricity (high thermodynamic value).
I recommend some Thermodynamics courses, including some graduate level Statistical Thermodynamics, to understand this better. Maxwell is not going to help you here.
I'm sure the nuk-sperts have all this stuff down pat.
But what courses would I have to take to tell me never to build a nuclear plant on a fault line or in a tsunami zone?