GRAPHIC

SCIENCE

Reactor Electrical Capacity

Name (megawatts)*

Reactors Reshuffled
*For comparison, a very large coal
power plant is 800 megawatts.

Fangchenggang 3 1,000
Fangchenggang 4 1,000
Asia aggressively builds nuclear power plants Fuqing 4 1,000
as the West withdraws Fuqing 5
Fuqing 6
1,000
1,000
Haiyang 1 1,000
Nuclear power is hot in China. The country is building 19 commercial reac- Haiyang 2 1,000
tors, including two of the largest ever assembled. Russia’s state-owned engi- Hongyanhe 5 1,000
neering firm, Rosatom, is erecting 13 reactors in five countries. India is devel- Hongyanhe 6 1,000
Sanmen 1 1,000
oping its own domestic supply chain. Meanwhile the U.S. is canceling reac-
Sanmen 2 1,000
tors, leaving only four under construction. American maker Westinghouse, Taishan 1 1,660
long the global front-runner, filed for bankruptcy in March. France, which Taishan 2 1,660
for decades happily relied on atomic power, will turn to renewables to meet Tianwan 3 990
new electricity demand. Germany will shutter all its reactors by 2022. Tianwan 4 990
If China’s progress holds, it will have more nuclear capacity than the U.S., Tianwan 5 1,000
Tianwan 6 1,000
today’s leader, within a decade. The government helps companies get permits
Yangjiang 5 1,000
and obtain financing, two big hurdles in the West. Changing markets could Yangjiang 6 1,000
shift alliances as well, as countries such as the United Arab Emirates sign
Kakrapar 3 630
deals with surging Russian and South Korean suppliers rather than fading
Kakrapar 4 630
American and European firms. Japan may be Asia’s anomaly: because of the PFBR 470
infamous Fukushima accident, it has scaled back plans. —Mark Fischetti Rajasthan 7 630
Rajasthan 8 630
Baltic 1 1,109
Nuclear Reactors Worldwide
Leningrad II-1 1,085
56 448 162 Leningrad II-2 1,085
Novovoronezh II-2 1,114
Operating Retired Rostov 4 1,011

Manufacturer Location Barakah 1 1,345

Commercial Barakah 2 1,345
Units under Mainland China
Construction Rosatom Barakah 3 1,345
(Russia) Barakah 4 1,345
Summer 2 1,117
Reactor Type Westinghouse India Summer 3 1,117
(U.S.) Vogtle 3 1,117
Russia Vogtle 4 1,117
Pressurized
water China National Chasnupp 4 315
Nuclear United Arab Emirates Karachi-2 1,014
Karachi-3 1,014
Korean Electric U.S.
Power Shin Hanul 1 1,340
Shin Hanul 2 1,340
Pakistan
China General Shin Kori 4 1,340
Nuclear Power South Korea Ostrovets 1 1,109
Ostrovets 2 1,109
AREVA Belarus
(France) Ohma 1,325
Japan Shimane 3 1,325
Siemens Mochovce 3 440
(Germany) Slovakia Mochovce 4 440
Boiling Hitachi/GE Taiwan Lungmen 1 1,300
SOURCE: WORLD NUCLEAR ASSOCIATION

water (Japan/U.S.)
Lungmen 2 1,300
Ukraine
Khmelnitski 3 950
Pressurized Nuclear Power
heavy water Corporation of India Brazil Khmelnitski 4 950
Angra 3 1,245
Finland
Fast BHAVINI Olkiluoto 3 1,600
breeder (India) France
Flamanville 3 1,600

84 Scientific American, August 2017 Graphic by Jen Christiansen

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