Nuclear Power in the World Today

• The first commercial nuclear power stations started operation in the 1950s.
• There are now over 440 commercial nuclear power reactors operating in 30 countries, with 377,000 MWe of total capacity.
• They provide about 14% of the world's electricity as continuous, reliable base-load power, and their efficiency is increasing.
• 56 countries operate a total of about 250 research reactors and a further 180 nuclear reactors power some 140 ships and submarines.

Nuclear technology uses the energy released by splitting the atoms of certain elements. It was first developed in the 1940s, and during the Second World War research initially focussed on producing bombs by splitting the atoms of either uranium or plutonium.

In the 1950s attention turned to the peaceful purposes of nuclear fission, notably for power generation. Today, the world produces as much electricity from nuclear energy as it did from all sources combined in 1960. Civil nuclear power can now boast over 14,000 reactor years of experience and supplies almost 14% of global electricity needs, from reactors in 30 countries. In fact, many more than 30 countries use nuclear-generated power.

Many countries have also built research reactors to provide a source of neutron beams for scientific research and the production of medical and industrial isotopes.

Today, only eight countries are known to have a nuclear weapons capability. By contrast, 56 operate civil research reactors, and 30 host some 440 commercial nuclear power reactors with a total installed capacity of over 377,000 MWe (see table). This is more than three times the total generating capacity of France or Germany from all sources. Over 60 further nuclear power reactors are under construction, equivalent to 17% of existing capacity, while over 150 are firmly planned, equivalent to 46% of present capacity.