World’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant Fleet, The Unites States sets world record

June 10, 2025

Washington, DC, United States--America’s nuclear reactor fleet consists of 54 power plants, each of which has one to four operating units; in 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), setting the world record for the World’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant Fleet, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

Photo: Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station /TVA Web Team/Wikipedia

Photo: Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (February 2025)

"In 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), the largest commercial nuclear power generation fleet in the world. The next three countries with the largest programs were France with 57 units (63.0 GW), China with 57 units (55.3 GW), and Russia with 36 units (28.6 GW). Nuclear power continues to account for 19% of U.S. power sector electricity generation," the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports.

"America’s nuclear reactor fleet consists of 54 power plants, each of which has one to four operating units. Plant Vogtle in Georgia is the largest nuclear power plant with four reactors and a total generating capacity of around 4.5 GW. The R.E. Ginna plant in New York is the smallest nuclear power plant with its one 0.6-GW reactor.

"After Georgia Power added one reactor in 2023 and another in 2024, Plant Vogtle became the largest U.S. nuclear power plant, with Units 3 and 4 each having a generating capacity of 1.1 GW. Before the recent addition of the reactors at Vogtle, the Palo Verde plant (3.9 GW) in Arizona was the largest nuclear facility in the United States."

Photo: The Arkansas Nuclear One power plant in Russellville, Arkansas /Wikipedia

"In the United States, nuclear power is provided by 94 commercial reactors with a net capacity of 97 gigawatts (GW), with 63 pressurized water reactors and 31 boiling water reactors. In 2019, they produced a total of 809.41 terawatt-hours of electricity, and by 2024 nuclear energy accounted for 18.6% of the nation's total electric energy generation. In 2018, nuclear comprised nearly 50 percent of US emission-free energy generation.

"There was a revival of interest in nuclear power in the 2000s, with talk of a "nuclear renaissance", supported particularly by the Nuclear Power 2010 Program. A number of applications were made, but facing economic challenges, and later in the wake of the 2011.

"On March 12, 2013, construction began on the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4. The target in-service date for Unit 3 was originally November 2021. In March 2023, the Vogtle reached "initial criticality" and started service on July 31, 2023. On October 19, 2016, Tennessee Valley Authority's Unit 2 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station became the first US reactor to enter commercial operation since 1996." (Wikipedia)

Photo: Alvin Ward Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant./NRC/Wikipedia

"The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear reactor pair used for electric power generation. It is located on a 1,770-acre (7.2 km²) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between Chattanooga and Knoxville. Watts Bar supplies enough electricity for about 1.2 million households in the Tennessee Valley.

"The plant, construction of which began in 1973, has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactor units: Unit 1, completed in 1996, and Unit 2, completed in 2015. Unit 1 has a winter net dependable generating capacity of 1,167 megawatts. Unit 2 has a capacity of 1,165 megawatts. Unit 2 was the first of three new power reactors to enter service in the 21st century in the United States, followed by Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4." (Wikipedia)

Photo: NRC Executive Director for Operations Dan Dorman (2nd from left) tours the plant control room while visiting the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. Photo courtesy of Arizona Public Service Co./Wikipedia

"As of September 2017, there were two new reactors under construction with a gross electrical capacity of 2,500 MW, while 39 reactors have been permanently shut down.

"The United States is the world's largest producer of commercial nuclear power, and in 2013 generated 33% of the world's nuclear electricity." (Wikipedia)