Nuclear power stations of the world

Map of the world's nuclear power stations

Each dot is a power station; bigger dots are bigger stations. Green is operating, orange is under construction. Click a dot for details.

How each country's reactors actually run

The key number is the capacity factor: how much electricity the reactors really made, compared with running at full power every hour of the year. It is the best single measure of how well a fleet is run and maintained.

Figures for 2024 from the IAEA Power Reactor Information System, as compiled on Wikipedia's "Nuclear power by country." For Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh the capacity shown is under construction.

What the numbers say

• United States (92.5%) and China (93%): the best-run fleets in the world. U.S. plants run flat out and have shortened refueling outages to about a month.
• France (74%): French reactors raise and lower their output to follow demand, and the fleet was still recovering from stress-corrosion inspections that idled many units in 2022.
• Japan (33%): most reactors are still idle after Fukushima while they go through new safety reviews; 18 are suspended.
• Canada (68%): several CANDU units are out for multi-year refurbishments that will run them another 30 years or more.
• South Africa (48%): Koeberg's two units had long outages for steam generator replacement and life extension.

Every operating station

Country: All countriesArgentinaArmeniaBelarusBelgiumBrazilBulgariaCanadaChinaCzechiaFinlandFranceHungaryIndiaIranJapanMexicoNetherlandsPakistanRomaniaRussiaSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited States   Search:  

The 173 major stations listed on Wikipedia's "List of nuclear power stations" (November 2026). A few smaller or older stations are not listed there. Click a name for that station's details.

Being built now

Selected projects from the same list. China alone has more than 30 reactors under construction, more than the rest of the world combined.

How nuclear plants are kept running

• Refueling outages. Most U.S. plants refuel every 18 to 24 months. The reactor is shut down for about a month, roughly a third of the fuel is replaced, and thousands of maintenance and inspection jobs are done at the same time. CANDU reactors are different: they refuel while running.
• Inspections on a schedule. Pipes, welds, pumps and the reactor vessel are inspected on 10-year intervals under the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section XI. France does a major "ten-year inspection" on every reactor.
• Regulators on site. In the U.S., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission keeps resident inspectors at every plant and grades each one quarterly. Most countries have a similar regulator.
• Licences and life extension. U.S. plants were licensed for 40 years; nearly all have been renewed to 60, and a growing number to 80. Big components such as steam generators and turbines are replaced along the way.
• Peer review. Operators review each other through WANO worldwide and INPO in the U.S., sharing every significant event so the whole industry learns from it.

When I directed nuclear engineering at River Bend, we planned each refueling outage for a year or more: the new core design, the fuel order, and every modification and inspection had to fit in a few weeks. That planning is why today's U.S. fleet runs more than 90% of the time.