Nuclear energy production reached a record 2667 terawatt-hours in 2024, more than the previous annual record of 2660 terawatt-hours set in 2016. The Doomslayer notes that “over the past decade, almost all the growth in nuclear energy generation occurred in Asia—home to 59 of the 70 nuclear reactors currently under construction—while generation in Western Europe fell substantially.”
The World Nuclear Association explains:
In 2024, nuclear reactors supplied more electricity than ever before…The global reactor fleet ran at an average capacity factor of 83% in 2024, higher than any other source of electricity. This measure of reliability is reflected consistently over the past 20 years, with reactor performance remaining high regardless of age and older reactors having some of the highest capacity factors.
The increase in global nuclear generation seen over recent years is primarily due to a rapid increase in capacity in Asia. Of the 68 reactors commissioned worldwide over the past decade, 56 were built in Asian countries. This momentum shows no sign of slowing, with 59 of the 70 reactors currently under construction also located in the region.
- In 2024, nuclear reactors helped avoid 2.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from equivalent coal generation — enough to wipe out the carbon footprint of the entire global aviation industry nearly twice over.
- Seven reactors completed construction and were connected to the grid in 2024. Three of these were located in China, with the remaining four in the United Arab Emirates, France, India, and the United States.
- There are currently 70 reactors under construction worldwide, with construction on nine reactors starting in 2024, six in China and one each in Pakistan, Egypt and Russia.
Another way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be to expand production of geothermal energy. Geothermal energy could expand significantly due to fracking techniques, just as oil and gas production in the U.S. rose to record levels after fracking techniques were perfected. That would reduce the need to rely on fossil fuels, wind, and solar power (which would be good, because fossil fuels lead to global warming, wind energy kills many birds, and solar farms generate lots of toxic waste. A Google-owned solar farm incinerates a thousand birds every year).
Belgium has canceled its plans to shut down its nuclear power plants.
Chinese researchers hope to make nuclear power cheaper through a new process for extracting uranium from water. China has also built the first thorium reactor ever built, in the Gobi Desert.
Nuclear power is already “the safest form of energy we have, if you consider deaths per megawatt of energy produced,” notes Yale University’s Steven Novella. “Wind turbines, surprisingly, kill more people than nuclear plants,” notes an environmentalist. And “solar panels require 17 times more materials in the form of cement, glass, concrete, and steel than do nuclear plants, and create over 200 times more waste,” such as “dust from toxic heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and chromium.”
Nuclear plants emit no air pollution, only harmless steam. Unlike wind farms, nuclear power plants don’t kill birds. The biggest utility that generates wind power pleaded guilty to federal crimes for killing 150 eagles.
