Nuclear Power Around the World

For a fourth successive year, the Agency revised upwards its annual projections for the potential growth of nuclear power in the coming decades.

In its new outlook for global nuclear capacity for electricity generation, the Agency increased its low case projection to 514 GW(e) by 2050, representing a significant increase of 56 GW(e) compared to the 2023 projection. Likewise, the high case projection increased to 950 GW(e) by 2050, up from 890 GW(e) in 2023 and representing a 235 GW(e) increase compared to 2020. For these projections to be realized, there would need to be large scale implementation of long term operation across the existing fleet and more than 640 GW(e) of new build in the coming 26 years. Global annual investments would also need to rise from the current average of around US $50 billion to some US $125 billion to meet the high case projection.

About 50 Member States have an interest in adding nuclear power to their energy mix, and 37 countries are in various phases of initiating or implementing their national nuclear power programmes. The Agency continued its assistance to newcomer countries in 2024, conducting a Phase 2 Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) mission to Poland in April and a Phase 1 INIR follow-up mission to the Philippines in December.

Public support is crucial for nuclear power programmes. To this end, the Agency established a Stakeholder Engagement Advisory Service for Nuclear Power Programmes in June 2024 and conducted a pre-mission to Malaysia in October 2024. The Joint ICTP–IAEA Nuclear Stakeholder Engagement School, hosted by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), was piloted in November 2024.