Nuclear Reactors Operating by Country, 1955–2024
Steady growth for 30 years. Then Chernobyl causes a global slowdown. The USSR dissolves. Fukushima hits Japan hard and triggers Germany's phase-out. China climbs. Germany closes its last reactor in 2023. The engineering safety story told in bars.
The story
The UK built the world's first commercial nuclear power station in 1956. The US rapidly expanded through the 1960s–80s and peaked at 111 operating reactors in 1990. The Soviet Union's Chernobyl disaster in 1986 didn't immediately close reactors but effectively ended the era of new construction in the West.
Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster was more dramatic: all 54 of Japan's reactors were shut down within a year. Germany immediately closed 7 reactors and committed to phasing out the rest, closing its last three in April 2023. Meanwhile, China has been building steadily since 2010 and now has more reactors than any country except the US and France.