A World Nuclear Association analysis of International Atomic Energy Agency data reveals that nuclear energy supplied around 10% of the world’s electricity and around one quarter of all low-carbon clean electricity in 2022.

However, the amount of electricity supplied by nuclear sources was 2,545 TWh, down 4.2% from the previous year. The global decline in nuclear generation is attributed to extended outages in France, the closure of reactors in Germany, and cessation of operations at the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine. In contrast, nuclear generation rose in Asia for an increase of 37 TWh, or 5%, in 2022. Nuclear generation in Asia has more than doubled over the last decade.

In 2022, the end of year capacity of operable nuclear power plants was 394 GWe, up 5 GWe relative to 2021. The total capacity of reactors that produced electricity in 2022 was 363 GWe, down 7 GWe from 2021.

The global average capacity factor was 80.5% in 2022, down from 82.3% in 2021, and regionally was highest for units in North America. On average, boiling water reactors achieve the highest capacity factors consistently.

With eight construction starts in 2022 and six reactor connections to the grid, the total number of units under construction at the end of 2022 was 60, two more than at the end of 2021.