Nuclear Energy Countries -List of Nations with Largest Nuclear Power Capacities,Nuclear Electricity Generation

Nuclear Energy is responsible for generating almost 1/6th of the global production of electricity with Developed Countries like Japan,Europe and USA having 20% or more of their electricity being generated by Nuclear Fission.Currently 31 countries in the world have nuclear reactors producing electricity.Note the advantages of Nuclear Power are quite strong however the catastrophic tails risks of a  failure is the biggest disadvantage.According to WNA,around 45 countries are seeking to build nuclear reactors currently though the Japanese incident has thrown a spanner in the works for a number of these countries

The total installed nuclear generating capacity in the world is around 375 GW (WNA) with another 170 GW in planning g state and another 170 GW being proposed. The largest nuclear power is Europe with an installed capacity of 131 GW, ie. 34% of the total world capacity. The second largest country is the USA with around 27% of the world nuclear capacity. The installed capacity of USA is 101 GW. These figures are projected to accumulate to 144 GW & 136 GW respectively by the end of year 2035, according to the EIA. Japan & Russia are the 3rd & 4th in the list with an installed capacity of 49 GW & 23GW respectively.

Nuclear Energy Countries

Sixteen countries depend on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity.  France gets around three quarters of its power from nuclear energy, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get one third or more.  Japan, Germany and Finland get more than a quarter of their power from nuclear energy, while in the USA one fifth is from nuclear. Among countries which do not host nuclear power plants, Italy gets about 10% of its power from nuclear, and Denmark about 8%. – Source WNA

Countries with Highest Nuclear Power Growth

It is remarkable to note that China which had an installed capacity of 9 GW in 2007 is estimated to increase its capacity by  to 75 GW by the end of 2035. Also the Indian capacity is projected to increase from around 4.5 GW with another 49 GW in the different planning planning stages. In contrast to this, the major players like Europe & USA are estimated to increase their capacities by only 0.3% & 0.4% respectively, but continue being the largest even then.

Top 15 Countries with Highest Nuclear Electricity Generation Capacities

1. USA 101 GW
2. France 63 GW
3. Japan 45GW
4. Russia 23 GW
5. Germany 21 GW
6. South Korea 19 GW
7. Canada 13 GW
8. Ukraine 13 GW
9. UK 11 GW
10. Sweden 10 GW
11. China 10 GW
12. Spain 7 GW
13. Belgium 6 GW
14. Czech 5 GW
15. India 4 GW

Summary

Nuclear Power is one of the largest sources of energy which does not contribute to Global Warming like Hydro Power.The massive dependence of some countries especially the developed ones means that Nuclear Electricity Generation will continue to play an important role in the near future.Though some countries like Germany propose to shut down all nuclear reactors other like France with a massive nuclear industry and 63 GW of capacity continue to support nuclear energy growth.China and India have ambitious plans to grow their nuclear power though Fukushima will temper the growth rates.