May 15, 2023
Number of Reactors
In the past, the nuclear industry enjoyed a clear positive trend increasing from 416 reactors in 1990 to 441 in 2010.
Since the Fukushima accident in 2011, this trend generally stopped as leading countries like Germany decided to shutter their nuclear stations, this is most evident with the decrease seen in 2022.
The trend is once again reverting to growth as energy security becomes the main driver amid the current global energy crisis.
Today, there are 437 nuclear power reactors operating in 32 countries.
2022 Market Share
In 2022, almost 80% of all reactors were owned by 8 countries:
- US with 93 reactors (21% market share)
- France and China own 56 and 55 reactors respectively (13% each)
- Russia and Japan (8% each)
- Korea (6%), Canada (4%) and Ukraine (3%).
The remaining 24 countries have a total market share of 24%
Compared to 1990, all regions saw a decrease, or remained flat, except for China (grew from 0 to 55 reactors), Russia increased by 8, and Korea by 7.
Number of Reactors by Country
- Negative Trend: US, Japan
- Flat Trend: France, Canada, Ukraine
- Positive Trend: China, Korea, Russia
- INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2022, Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050. Retrieved from https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/F8mlpjqn%40hotmail.com?projector=1
- World Nuclear Association, April, 2022, World Nuclear Power Reactors & Uranium Requirements. Retrieved from https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/facts-and-figures/world-nuclear-power-reactors-and-uranium-requireme.aspx