The World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) 2025, overseen by French nuclear energy consultant Mycle Schneider, has revealed that global nuclear power generation increased by 2.9% year-on-year to 2,677 TWh in 2024, after registering a 2.2% growth in 2023.
This result represents the highest output ever achieved by the world’s nuclear power plant fleet, beating the previous record of 2,663 TWh set in 2006. The prospects for the nuclear energy sector, however, do not seem as brilliant as several governments and companies active in the sector continue to claim. “The continuous disconnect between public narrative and industrial reality remains very worrying,” Schneider told pv magazine.
“It is startling to see the breathtaking speed of the transformation of the world’s power systems,” he went on to say. “While the nuclear industry proudly announces – correctly – a new record of nuclear power generation, the event is insignificant in the system context. Nuclear reactors added a further 14 TWh over the 18-year-old record, the equivalent of the theoretical nominal output of a single large reactor or what UK offshore wind turbines generated in the fourth quarter of 2024.”
“The past year – mid-2024 to mid-2025 – really is the solar-plus-storage year with unprecedented solar PV additions, especially in China, and a huge growth in storage due to the breathtaking 40% drop in battery storage costs,” he added.
The report also revealed that, despite last year’s growth, nuclear power maintained a 9% share in the global electricity mix, which is its lowest value in four decades, in comparison to 17.5% in 1996.
Furthermore, the report said that, between January 2024 and June 2025, eight reactors were activated last year worldwide, while another four were closed, with global generation capacity reaching around 378 GW.
“Over the past two decades, there were 104 startups and 101 closures in the world,” the report notes. “Of these, 51 startups were in China, which did not close any reactors. As a result, outside China, the net number of reactors has significantly declined by 48 units and net capacity has declined by close to 27 GW over the period.”
Moreover, the report stated that, as of the end of June 2025, there were 63 reactors totaling 60 GW under construction across 11 countries. Of these, 32 are being built in China and none is located in the Americas. The companies with the largest shares in this group of projects are Russia’s Rosatom, France’s EDF, and China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC).
“All reactors under construction in at least six of the 11 countries hosting building sites have experienced, often year-long, delays,” the authors of the report stressed. “Of the 22 to 26 reactors behind schedule, at least 14 have reported increased delays.”
The experts also revealed that the operating age of the plants increased from 32 years in mid-2024 to 32.4 years at the end of June, with around two-thirds of the reactors having been operating for over 31 years.
In addition, the report highlighted that of the 218 nuclear power plants that were closed across the world to date, only 23 have been fully decommissioned. As for the next and fourth generation of nuclear plants, the so-called small modular reactors (SMRs), the experts noted that there are currently only design certification and standard design approval processes being implemented in the United States. “Two of the largest European nuclear startups – Newcleo (cash shortage) and Naarea (insolvent) – are in serious financial trouble,” the report emphasized.
As for the competition with solar, wind, hydropower and storage, the report stressed the inexorable prevalence of these sources by virtue of lower costs and greater ease in their development and construction.
“Storage has passed a trigger point, there are first signs of a revolution behind the meter and low-income countries are starting to leapfrog,” the report reads. “In 2024, total investment in non-hydro renewable electricity capacity reached a record $728 billion, 21 times the reported global investment in nuclear energy. Solar and wind power capacities grew by 32% and 11% respectively, resulting in 565 GW of combined new capacity, over 100 times the 5.4 GW of net nuclear capacity addition. Global wind and solar facilities generated 70% more electricity than nuclear plants.”
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