Nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

s operate in 31 countries and generate about a tenth of the world's electricity. Most are in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

is the largest producer of nuclear power, while

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

has the largest share of electricity generated by nuclear power, at about 65%. Some countries operated nuclear reactors in the past but have no operating nuclear power plants at present. Among them,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

closed all of its nuclear stations by 1990 and nuclear power has since been discontinued because of the

1987 referendums Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

closed its nuclear station at 2009 because it was of the dangerous

RBMK The RBMK (, РБМК; ''reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalnyy'', "high-power channel-type reactor") is a class of graphite moderated reactor, graphite-moderated nuclear reactor, nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union. It is so ...

reactor type.

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

phased out nuclear power in 1999 but is planning to reintroduce it possibly by 2035 under

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

operated nuclear plants since 1960 until the completion of its phaseout policy in 2023.

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

( Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant) and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

(

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is a nuclear power plant on the Bataan Peninsula, west of Manila, Philippines. Completed but never fueled, it is located on a government reservation at Napot Point in Barangay Nagbalayong, Morong, Bata ...

) never started to use their first nuclear plants that were completely built. Sweden and Belgium originally had phase-out policies however they have now moved away from their original plans. The Philippines relaunched their nuclear programme on February 28, 2022 and may try to operate the 1984 mothballed Bataan Plant. As of 2020, Poland was in advanced planning phase for 1.5 GW and planned to have up to 9 GW by 2040. Hong Kong has no nuclear power plants within its boundary, but imports 80% of the electricity generated from

Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station Daya Nuclear Power Plant () is a nuclear power plant located in Daya Bay in Longgang District, along the eastern extremity of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; and to the north east of Hong Kong. Daya Bay has two 944 MWe PWR nuclear reactors base ...

located across the border, in which the power company of the territory holds stake. In 2021,

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

declared it was planning to build 8 nuclear reactors by 2030 to supply up to 25% electric power in a grid that was suffering from shortages.

Overview

Of the 31 countries in which nuclear power plants operate, only

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

use them as the source for a majority of the country's electricity supply as of 2023. Other countries have significant amounts of nuclear power generation capacity. By far the largest nuclear electricity producers are the

with 779,186 GWh of nuclear electricity in 2023, followed by

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

with 406,484 GWh. As of May 2025, 416 reactors with a net capacity of 376,283

MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

were operational, and 66 reactors with net capacity of 61,637 MWe were under construction. Of the reactors under construction, 30 reactors with 34,365 MWe were in

and 7 reactors with a capacity of 5,290 MWe were in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Notes

References

External links

World Nuclear Generation and Capacity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear Power By Country Nuclear technology

Overview

See also

Notes

References

External links