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Glossary

Nuclear power plants, world-wide

On December 20, 1951, at the Experimental Breeder Reactor EBR-I in Arco, Idaho, USA, for the first time electricity - illuminating four light bulbs - was produced by nuclear energy. EBR-I was not designed to produce electricity but to validate the breeder reactor concept.

Experimental Breeder Reactor EBR-I
First electricity production by nuclear energy
Experimental Breeder Reactor EBR-I, 20 Dec.1951, Arco, Idaho, USA

On June 26, 1954, at Obninsk, Russia, the nuclear power plant APS-1 with a net electrical output of 5 MW was connected to the power grid, the world's first nuclear power plant that generated electricity for commercial use. On August 27, 1956 the first commercial nuclear power plant, Calder Hall 1, Eng-land, with a net electrical output of 50 MW was connected to the national grid.

As of 30 June 2009 in 31 countries 436 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 370 GW are in operation and 48 plants with an installed capacity of 42 GW are in 15 countries under construction.

As of end 2007 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 59,450 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 12,750 years by the end of 2007.

Country

In operation

Under construction

Number

Electr. net output
MW

Number

Electr. net output
MW

Argentina

2

935

1

692

Armenia

1

376

-

-

Belgium

7

5,824

-

-

Brazil

2

1,766

-

-

Bulgaria

2

1,906

2

1,906

Canada

18

12,577

-

-

China

11

8,438

13

12,220

Czech Republic

6

3,634

-

-

Finland

4

2,696

1

1,600

France

59

63,260

1

1,600

Germany

17

20,470

-

-

Hungary

4

1,859

-

-

India

17

3,782

6

2,910

Iran

-

-

1

915

Japan

53

45,957

2

2,191

Korea, Republic

20

17,647

5

5,180

Lithuinia

1

1,185

-

-

Mexico

2

1,300

-

-

Netherlands

1

482

-

-

Pakistan

2

425

1

300

Romania

2

1,300

-

-

Russian Federation

31

21,743

8

5,809

Slovakian Republic

4

1,711

2

810

Slovenia

1

666

-

-

South Africa

2

1,800

-

-

Spain

8

7,450

-

-

Sweden

10

8,958

-

-

Switzerland

5

3,238

-

-

Taiwan

6

4,949

2

2,600

Ukraine

15

13,107

2

1,900

United Kingdom

19

10,097

-

-

USA

104

100,683

1

1,165

Total

436

370,221

48

41,798

Nuclear power plants world-wide, in operation and under construction, as of June 2009