Nuclear Electricity Generation by Country (2024)

💡 Note: What Is Nuclear Electricity?

Nuclear electricity is power generated by splitting heavy atomic nuclei, usually uranium or plutonium, in a process called nuclear fission. The heat released boils water into steam, which spins a turbine connected to a generator exactly like in a coal or gas plant. The only difference is where the heat comes from: a controlled chain reaction inside a reactor core instead of burning fuel.

A single fission of one uranium-235 atom releases roughly 200 million electron-volts of energy. Compare that to a chemical bond in coal, which releases only a few electron-volts. Per kilogram, nuclear fuel packs about a million times more energy than fossil fuels. A pellet of uranium the size of a golf ball can power a home for a whole year.

How it works

• Reactor core: fuel rods loaded with uranium sit in a thick steel pressure vessel.
• Control rods: boron or cadmium rods absorb the excess neutrons and are raised or lowered to throttle the reaction rate.
• Coolant: water (mostly), heavy water, or liquid sodium carries heat away from the core.
• Steam cycle: heat turns water to steam that drives a turbine, then the steam is condensed and recycled.
• Containment: layered concrete-and-steel barriers trap radiation even in an accident.

Fun facts about the leaders

• The United States runs 94 reactors and is the world's largest nuclear producer, yet nuclear still makes up only about 18% of its electricity.
• France is the real outlier for share: about 67% of its electricity comes from nuclear, more than any other nation, thanks to a deliberate post-oil-crisis nuclear build-out.
• China built more reactors in the last decade than any other country and is adding dozens more; it passed France in total generation a few years ago.
• Ukraine relies on nuclear for over half its power, and its Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest in Europe.
• The United Arab Emirates opened its first reactor (Barakah) only in 2020 and already ranks in the top fifteen for generations, showing how fast a newcomer can scale up.
• South Korea generates about a third of its electricity from nuclear and is a major exporter of reactor designs.

Why "share" matters more than totals

Total generation (the TWh in the table) tells you how much a country produces. The share column tells you how important nuclear is to that country's grid. South Korea, Ukraine, and Belgium all produce far less total power than China, but nuclear carries a much larger fraction of their national load. A tiny country like Armenia gets about 31% of its electricity from a single plant, even though it generates only a few TWh.

Pros and cons

• Low carbon: nuclear emits almost no CO2 or air pollution during operation, close to wind and solar on a life-cycle basis.
• Reliable baseload: reactors run near full power around the clock, unlike wind and solar which depend on weather and daylight.
• High capacity factor: the best plants in this chart operate above 90% capacity, far above most other technologies.
• Waste: spent fuel stays radioactive for thousands of years and must be stored securely; long-term disposal sites are still rare.
• Cost and build time: new reactors are expensive and can take a decade or more to construct, with cost overruns common.
• Safety perception: accidents like Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) drive public caution, even though modern designs have multiple redundant safety systems.

The global picture

• Worldwide, nuclear supplied about 2,600 to 2,700 TWh in recent years, roughly 8.5% to 10% of global electricity.
• Around 30 countries operate nuclear plants today, plus a handful more (Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh) building their first units.
• Three quarters of the world's nuclear generation comes from just five countries: the US, China, France, Russia, and South Korea.
• There are two main reactor families: pressurised water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR), with PWRs the most common globally.
• Heavy water (CANDU) and fast breeder designs exist too, and newer small modular reactors (SMRs) aim to cut cost and build times.

Nuclear is a hotly debated piece of the energy mix: some see it as a critical low-carbon bridge alongside renewables, while others worry about waste, cost, and risk. Either way, the 30 countries in this table generate hundreds of terawatt-hours a year from the atom, enough to run entire economies round the clock.