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.

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 June 30, 2010 in 30 countries 438 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW are in operation and 61 plants with an installed capacity of 59 GW are in 16 countries under construction.

As of end 2009 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 64,600 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 14,092 years by June 2010.

Nuclear power plants world-wide, in operation, as of June 2010

Number of reactors in operation, worldwide, June 30, 2010 (IAEA 2010, modified)

Nuclear power plants under construction, June 30, 2010 (IAEA 2010, modified)

Nuclear share in electricity generation, 2009 (IAEA 2010, modified)

Number of nuclear reactors worldwide by age as of May 2010 (IAEA 2010)

Nuclear Power Plants, energy availability factor 1991 - 2008 (IAEA 2009)