World Nuclear Power Reactors & Uranium Requirements

March 2021

Note: This is an archived table. The latest version is available here.

Sources:

Reactor and electricity data: International Atomic Energy Agency Power Reactor Information System (PRIS); US Energy Information Administration; company data; World Nuclear Association estimates
World Nuclear Association, The Nuclear Fuel Report (published September 2019, reference scenario forecast) – for uranium requirements
68,269 tU = 80,506 t U₃O₈

Notes:

Operable = Connected to the grid.
Under Construction = First concrete for reactor poured.
Planned = Approvals, funding or commitment in place, mostly expected to be in operation within the next 15 years.
Proposed = Specific programme or site proposals; timing very uncertain. 

* World figures include Taiwan, which generated a total of 31.1 TWh from nuclear in 2019 (accounting for 13.4% of Taiwan's total electricity generation). The island has four operable reactors with a combined net capacity of 3844 MWe. A two-unit plant (Lungmen) commenced construction in New Taipei City in 1999. In February 2019 Taipower confirmed that the two units would not be completed. The two units are listed as under construction in PRIS, but were removed from WNA's database on 1 September 2020.

** International Energy Agency data for year 2018 (latest available).

† Under Construction figures include a number of units where construction is currently suspended: Angra 3 (Brazil); Ohma 1 and Shimane 3 (Japan); Khmelnitski 3&4 (Ukraine).

‡ Baltic 1, a VVER-1200 unit, commenced construction in Kaliningrad in Russia in February 2012. Construction was suspended in July 2013, and in 2017 the RPV made for Baltic 1 was sent to be used in Ostrovets 2 in Belarus. The unit is shown as under construction in PRIS, but was removed from the WNA's database in November 2020.

New plants coming online are largely balanced by old plants being retired. Over 1998-2020, 103 reactors were retired as 105 started operation. However, the reactors grid connected during this period were larger, on average, than those shutdown, so capacity increased by 31 GW. The reference scenario in the 2019 edition of The Nuclear Fuel Report (Table 2.5) has 154 reactors closing by 2040, and 289 new ones coming online (figures include 21 Japanese reactors online by 2040). 

TWh = terawatt hour (billion kilowatt hours); kWh = kilowatt hour; MWe = megawatt (electrical as distinct from thermal).