New nuclear – 10 GW installed globally in 2016

Global nuclear generating capacity reached 392 GW in 2016, up from 382 GW at the end of 2015, and construction started on three new reactors while three units were shut down. This is according to data from the World Nuclear Association (WNA), reported by World Nuclear News (WNN).

At the end of 2016, 447 reactors were in operation around the world and 60 were under construction, which when finished will add an extra 64 GW to the worldwide fleet. This compares to 439 reactors in operation at the end of 2015, as reported in WNA’s World Nuclear Performance Report 2016. 

The 2016 data indicates that ten new reactors with a total capacity of 9.5 GW came online in 2016. Five of the new reactors were in China, two were in India, and South Korea, Russia and the US added one reactor each to the global fleet. The total added in 2016 compares to another 9.5 GW added in 2015 and around 5 GW added in 2014.

The new reactors that started construction in 2016 were mainly in China – the 1 GW Tianwan 6 reactor and the 1.1 GW Fangchenggang 4 reactor, and in addition China General Nuclear’s 60 MW floating nuclear power plant project began construction, reports WNN. Construction was also started at the third unit of Pakistan’s Karachi nuclear power plant.

The three reactors that shut in 2016, with a combined capacity of 1.4 GW, were in Japan, the US and Russia. 

The French nuclear regulator Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) has approved the conditional restart of 10 nuclear reactors in France. The reactors have been offline due to safety concerns over steel in the steam generators. ASN has approved the restart of ten 900 MW EDF reactors once tests are completed, but not, as of yet, two 1.4 GW reactors that are also offline.