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Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to generate electricity. Currently, the vast preponderance of electricity from nuclear power is caused by the nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants.
The first atomic power plant was built in the 1950s. The globally installed nuclear capacity increased to 100 GW in the late 1970s and then enlarged rapidly during the 1980s, achieving 300 GW by 1990.
Nowadays, according to World Energy Statistics, nuclear power accounts for 10% of the total primary energy supply worldwide from about 440 power reactors.
There have been at least 99 recorded nuclear power plant accidents between 1952 and 2009. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was the most significant accident in American commercial nuclear power plant history. Chornobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) have been the most severe and were classified as level 7 (‘major accidents’). The worst event in the United Kingdom was the 1957 Windscale fire at the Sellafield site, which was classified as a level 5 ‘accident with wider consequences. These accidents increased control and public opposition to nuclear plants.
In 2022, there are 437 civilian reactors worldwide, with an overall capacity of 393 GW, 57 reactors under construction, and 102 planned, with a combined capacity of 62 GW and 96 GW, respectively. The U.S. has the largest fleet of atomic reactors, producing over 800 TWh of zero-emissions electricity.
Top 3 countries by nuclear electricity generation
Rank
Country
Generation, TWh
1
United States
800
2
China
400
3
France
380
13 nations in 2020 produced at least 1/4 of their electricity from nuclear. France generated about 70% of its electricity from atomic energy, while Ukraine, Slovakia, Belgium, and Hungary got almost half from nuclear. Japan relied on nuclear power for over 1/4 of its electricity and is predicted to return to that level.
The map below displays commercial nuclear power plants worldwide (research reactors are not considered atomic power plants). The data for creating this map was used from the World Nuclear Association.
According to the ambitious Sustainable development decarbonization Scenario of the International Energy Agency, electricity generation from nuclear will grow by almost 75% by 2050 to 4714 TWh, and capacity will increase to 669 GWe. The World Nuclear Association has put forward a more demanding scenario than this–the Harmony program proposes the addition of 1000 GWe of new nuclear capacity by 2050 to supply 25 percent of electricity then (about 10 thousand TWh) from 1250 GWe of capacity. According to this plan, providing 1/4 of the world’s electricity through nuclear would considerably reduce CO2 emissions and enhance air quality.
