Global nuclear capacity, by reactor, by country, and over time, are built up in this data-file, by reviewing the construction, operation and shutdowns of 800 global nuclear reactors. After running sideways for 20-years, at 2,800 TWH pa, global nuclear generation rises at c3% pa to 2030, and c3% pa to 2050, reaching 5,600 TWH pa.
Global nuclear capacity and global nuclear generation forecasts are tabulated in this data-file, by tracking c800 global nuclear reactors, and reactor projects, in c40 countries globally, informed by the IAEA, company reports and press coverage.
Global nuclear capacity has increased only very slowly from 350GW in 1995 to 400GW in 2025, for a net growth rate of 2.5 GW/year. We see the net growth rate accelerating to 15GW/year through 2050, due to rising electricity demand.
There is precedent for this kind of acceleration, as the world installed 25-30 GW pa of new nuclear reactors at peak, during the mid-1980s, and after a wave of project-sanctioning that followed major energy crises in 1973-74 and 1979-80.
Accelerating nuclear generation is positive for the global nuclear equipment manufacturers, companies in uranium production and uranium enrichment. Although we also see strong competition with gas-fired generation, cost-deflating solar and solar+battery concepts.
The total base of active, installed nuclear capacity is around 400 GW today. 97GW is in the US, 58GW in China, 63GW in France, 32GW in Japan, 28GW in Russia, 26GW in Korea.
Remarkably, China has 41GW of reactors in construction, and a further 13GW in discussion, whose completion would put China’s total installed nuclear capacity in line with the US’s, by the early 2030s. Construction costs of nuclear reactors in China are around half Western levels, which greatly helps nuclear economics.
Another positive has been in the US, with life extensions and uprates. There is also clearly a push to unlock small modular reactors, and nuclear fusion, and we are avidly tracking next-generation nuclear companies, albeit most of these are yet to culminate in commercial projects, and are mostly in the “new project upside” category of our model.
Elsewhere, the average nuclear plant in the world today has been running for 37-years, which means that 5GW of reactor capacity could shut down each year through 2050, ever after life extensions.
The data also show operating lives of nuclear plants, and construction times of nuclear plants, which average 7.5 years from breaking ground to first power; across different reactor designs and across different countries.
Finally, this breakdown of global nuclear capacity data-file allows you to filter upon individual countries, such as the US, Germany, France or China, and links to our forecasts for global uranium supply-demand. Numbers have been updated in early 2026.