Top 10: Nuclear Energy-Producing Countries (2024)

FAQs

Which countries produce the most nuclear energy? ›

Nuclear power plants operate in 32 countries and generate about a tenth of the world's electricity. Most are in Europe, North America and East Asia. The United States is the largest producer of nuclear power, while France has the largest share of electricity generated by nuclear power, at about 70%.

More than 30 countries have pledged to pursue nuclear energy as one way to meet global climate goals. Even so, nuclear energy is still a controversial energy source that's bogged down by concerns about radioactive waste, safety, and high costs.

The United States meanwhile remain the globe's biggest nuclear energy stronghold, with 92 operational reactor units as of July 2022, down 12 since 2011.

Just 15 countries make up for more than 91% of global nuclear power production, with the U.S. accounting for nearly 31%. Despite certain countries, such as Germany, phasing out their usage, the demand for carbon-free energy sources may cause a resurgence for nuclear power in the global energy mix.

Tsar Bomba, Soviet thermonuclear bomb that was detonated in a test over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean on October 30, 1961. The largest nuclear weapon ever set off, it produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded.

Largest Nuclear Power Country – Russia

With 5889 warheads, Russia has one of the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world: Maintains strategic bombers, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. In total, the global nuclear stockpile is close to 13,000 weapons.

Nuclear-latent powers

There are many countries capable of producing nuclear weapons, or at least enriching uranium or manufacturing plutonium. Among the most notable are Japan, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia.

Some will last us about as long as the sun, while others may run out soon and are thus not sustainable. Breeder reactors can power all of humanity for more than 4 billion years. By any reasonable definition, nuclear breeder reactors are indeed renewable.

The world's fastest growing nuclear energy program is also one of the youngest: China has used nuclear energy since the early 1990s and currently runs 55 nuclear reactors, the majority of which joined the grid in just the past ten years.

Where is the newest nuclear power plant? ›

The oldest operating reactor is Nine Mile Point Unit 1 in New York State, which entered commercial service in December 1969. The newest reactor to enter service is Vogtle Unit 3 at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia that began commercial operation on July 31, 2023.

Russia is the country with the most nuclear weapons in the world, with an arsenal of 5,977 nuclear weapons. The United States is the second country with the most nuclear weapons, with a total of 5,428 weapons.

Read a brief summary of this topic. Chernobyl disaster, accident in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union, the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power generation.

A Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) is a specific proposed generation IV very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) that could be coupled to a neighboring hydrogen production facility. It could also produce electricity and supply process heat.

Countries involved in Saturday's announcement, along with the U.S., include Canada, the UK, France, South Korea, and the UAE. Officials have said increasing nuclear power in Europe would help European nations reduce dependence on oil and gas from Russia, while conceding it will require major investment.

France has few fossil fuel resources—coal, oil, or natural gas—of its own. To increase domestic energy supply and reduce reliance on imports, which could result in price shocks like during the oil crisis, it turned to nuclear power.