Preface to World Nuclear Performance Report 2025

A record 2667 TWh of electricity was generated by the world’s nuclear reactors in 2024, beating the previous record of 2660 TWh, achieved in 2006.

The 2024 total is an increase of 66 TWh on the total achieved in 2023, with an additional 40 TWh of generation in France making a significant contribution, as reactors continued to return to service after outages in 2022 and 2023.

Construction started on nine reactors, six in China and one each in Pakistan, Egypt and Russia. Seven reactors were connected to the grid, four in China, and one each in France, India, UAE and USA. Four reactors shut down, two in Canada and one each in Russia and Taiwan, China.

At the end of 2024, the 440 operable nuclear reactors worldwide had a total capacity of 398 GWe, up 6 GWe on 2023. This includes 19 GWe of capacity in Japan in suspended operation.

The average capacity factor for the 410 reactors that generated electricity in 2024 was 83%, up from 82% in 2023. These high capacity factors are achieved by reactors of all ages, with no overall age-related decline in capacity factors observed.

The case studies in this edition of the World Nuclear Performance Report highlight different aspects of nuclear reactor construction and operation. The first case study looks at how construction and operation of reactors at Hongyanhe, in China, have been carried out to protect and support the marine wildlife in the region. The second case study looks to ways in which the future applications of the planned reactors at the UK’s Sizewell C could be diversified.

With rising demand from new sectors, such as data servers and AI, the challenge for the nuclear industry is to accelerate growth at the scale and speed required to meet future needs.

Sama Bilbao y León
Director General
World Nuclear Association