The Evolution of Nuclear Power Generation by Region, 1972-2026
By 2025, global nuclear generation is forecast to exceed its previous record set in 2021.
Even as some countries phase out nuclear power or retire plants early, nuclear generation is forecast to grow by close to 3% per year on average through 2026 as maintenance works are completed within France, Japan restarts nuclear production at several power plants, and new reactors begin commercial operations in various markets, including China, India, Korea, and Europe. Many countries are making nuclear power a critical part of their energy strategies as they look to safeguard energy security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At the COP28 climate change conference that concluded in December 2023, more than 20 countries signed a joint declaration to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050. Achieving this goal will require tackling the key challenge of reducing construction and financing risks in the nuclear sector. Momentum is also growing behind small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The technology’s development and deployment remains modest and is not without its difficulties, but R&D is starting to pick up.
Asia remains the main driver of growth in nuclear power, with the region’s share of global nuclear generation forecast to reach 30% in 2026.
Asia is set to surpass North America as the region with the largest installed nuclear capacity by the end of 2026, with a large number of plants currently under construction expected to be completed by then. More than half of new reactors expected to become operational during the outlook period are in China and India. Nuclear power has seen particularly strong growth in China over the past decade, with capacity additions of about 37 gigawatts (GW), equivalent to almost two-thirds of its current nuclear capacity. This resulted in China’s share in global nuclear generation rising from 5% in 2014 to about 16% in 2023. China started the commercial operation of its first fourth-generation reactor in December 2023, further underscoring the country's nuclear power advances.