Nuclear power by country

The Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant in France. France produces around three quarters of its electricity by nuclear power.^[1]

The Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition announced on 30 May 2011, that Germany’s 14 nuclear power stations will be shut down by 2022, in a policy reversal following Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.^[2]

Nuclear power stations operate in 31 countries. China has 28 new reactors under construction,^[3] and there are also a considerable number of new reactors being built in South Korea, India, and Russia. At the same time, at least 100 older and smaller reactors will "most probably be closed over the next 10-15 years".^[4] So the expanding nuclear programs in Asia are balanced by retirements of ageing plants and nuclear reactor phase-outs.^[5]

In 2010, before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, it was reported that an average of about 10 nuclear reactors were expected to become operational per year, although according to the World Nuclear Association, of the 17 civilian reactors planned to become operational between 2007 and 2009, only five actually came on stream.^[4] As of June 2011, Germany and Switzerland are phasing-out nuclear power^[6][7] which will be replaced mostly by fossil fuels, and a smaller part renewable energy.

As of 2012, countries such as Australia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, and Portugal remain opposed to nuclear power.^[6][8] Global nuclear electricity generation in 2012 was at its lowest level since 1999.^[9][10]

Overview

Of the thirty countries in which nuclear power plants operate, only France, Belgium, Hungary and Slovakia use them as the primary source of electricity, although many other countries have a significant nuclear power generation capacity.^[11] According to the World Nuclear Association, a nuclear power advocacy group, over 45 countries are giving "serious consideration" to introducing a nuclear power capability, with Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Vietnam, Belarus, and Jordan at the forefront.^[12] China, South Korea and India are pursuing ambitious expansions of their nuclear power capacities, with China aiming to increase capacity to at least 80 GW_e by 2020, 200 GW_e by 2030 and 400 GW_e by 2050.^[13] South Korea plans to expand its nuclear capacity from 20.7 GW_e in 2012 to 27.3 GW_e in 2020 and to 43 GW_e by 2030.^[14] India aims to have 14.6 GW_e nuclear power generation capacity by 2020 and 63 GW_e by 2032 and to have 25% of all electricity supplied by nuclear power by 2050.^[15][16]

Timeline of commissioned and decommissioned nuclear capacity since the 1950s^[16]

Global status of nuclear deployment as of 2009 (source: see file description)

Operating reactors, building new reactors       Operating reactors, planning new build       No reactors, building new reactors       No reactors, planning new build

Operating reactors, stable       Operating reactors, considering phase-out       Civil nuclear power is illegal       No reactors

Nations based on nuclear output as a percentage of national power output.

Nuclear power plants in Europe

List of nuclear reactors by country

Only the commercial reactors registered with the International Atomic Energy Agency are listed below.

References:^[1][16]

See also

• List of nuclear reactors
• Nuclear energy policy by country
• Nuclear power accidents by country
• Uranium reserves
• World Nuclear Industry Status Report

References

External links

• World Nuclear Statistics
• 2006 statistics in Neutron Physics by Paul Reuss