China Leads Recent Nuclear Power Deployment, but the U.S. is Still by Far the Global Leader in Nuclear Power Capacity and Generation

     

     The EIA recently pointed out that China has nearly doubled its nuclear power capacity in the past decade, while the U.S. has more or less had the same nuclear power capacity over the past 25 years. China added 24GW of nuclear capacity from 2016 to 2024 and an additional 3.3GW since then for a total of 27.3 GW in the past decade. China is continuing its nuclear buildout and currently has 36 reactors under construction, accounting for more than 49% of total world nuclear construction, according to PRIS. They also show that all of China’s nuclear power plants are located along the length of its East Coast, where the population is highest.  

     According to the EIA:

“Nuclear projects in China use a standardized project management approach for design, licensing, and construction for multiple reactor technologies. Reactors are built in batches of 6 to 10 reactors to take advantage of economies of scale. China is also building up a nuclear supply chain with a focus on domestic manufacturing of the main plant components to decrease reliance on foreign nuclear vendors.”

“Additionally, China’s average build time for nuclear power plants is below the global average. According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, 2022 the average build time for a nuclear power plant in China between 2012 and 2021 was six years, compared with a global average construction time of about nine years.”

     China is also building its first small modular reactor (SMR), a 100MWe pressurized water reactor that can be used for power generation, water desalination, and district heating. It was designed domestically and is expected to come online in the first half of 2026, so very soon.

     According to World Population Review:

“As of late 2025, there are about 439 operable nuclear reactors worldwide, with a combined capacity of approximately 389.5 GW. Additionally, 56 reactors are currently under construction, which will add around 63.7 GW to global capacity.”

     Thus, China’s 36 reactors under construction make up 64% of reactors under construction globally.

     Below are a map and a graph of nuclear power generation by country. Note that since nuclear units typically have high capacity factors, or utilization rates, the difference between capacity and generation is less than for intermittent sources like wind or solar, or underutilized, inefficient coal plants.

     The U.S. has had nearly the same nuclear capacity and nuclear generation over the past 40 years.

 

Nuclear electricity installed capacity | United States = 98.39 GW

Nuclear energy generation | United States = 781.87 TWh

 

References:

 

China’s nuclear power capacity nearly doubled since 2016. Energy Information Administration. June 5, 2026. China’s nuclear power capacity nearly doubled since 2016 - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Nuclear Power by Country 2026. World Population Review. Nuclear Power by Country 2026

Nuclear energy generation | United States. Stat Base. Nuclear energy generation | United States (1965−2024) − Data, Charts & Analysis

Nuclear electricity installed capacity | United States. Stat Base. Nuclear electricity installed capacity | United States (1980−2024) − Data, Charts & Analysis