The United States operates the world’s largest nuclear power plant fleet
In 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), the largest commercial nuclear power generation fleet in the world. The next three countries with the largest programs were France with 57 units (63.0 GW), China with 57 units (55.3 GW), and Russia with 36 units (28.6 GW). Nuclear power continues to account for 19% of U.S. power sector electricity generation.
The United States operates the world’s largest nuclear power plant fleet
In 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), the largest commercial nuclear power generation fleet in the world. The next three countries with the largest programs were France with 57 units (63.0 GW), China with 57 units (55.3 GW), and Russia with 36 units (28.6 GW). Nuclear power continues to account for 19% of U.S. power sector electricity generation.
U.S. nuclear generators import nearly all the uranium concentrate they use
In 2023, U.S. nuclear generators used 32 million pounds of imported uranium concentrate (U3O8) and only 0.05 million pounds of domestically produced U3O8. Imports accounted for 99% of the U3O8 they used in 2023 to make nuclear fuel. Foreign producers predominantly supply the U.S. front-end nuclear fuel cycle, but federal policies have been implemented recently to build out the domestic U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently received $2.7 billion in congressional funding to help revive domestic fuel production for commercial nuclear power plants.
Since the 2011 Fukushima accident, Japan has restarted 14 nuclear reactors
Japanese utilities restarted two additional nuclear reactors in 2024 that had been suspended from operations in response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident, taking the total number of restarted reactors to 14 since the accident. In November, Tohoku Electric Power Co. restarted its 796-megawatt (MW) Onagawa Unit 2 reactor, and in December Chugoku Electric Power Co. restarted its Shimane Unit 2 (789 MW). Onagawa is the nuclear power plant located closest to the epicenter of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
State Energy Data System: Nuclear energy through 2023
(Fri, 15 Nov 2024) Annual state-level estimates of nuclear energy consumption, prices, and expenditures.