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Nuclear Power

Also Known As Nuclear Fission Power
Nuclear Fission
Orbiting Nucleus

Electricity generated from the heat of controlled nuclear fission, almost always of uranium fuel in a moderated reactor. From the first grid-connected plant in 1954, nuclear power grew to supply roughly a tenth of world electricity, carbon-free at the point of generation, with its history marked by the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima and by unresolved questions of waste and cost.

Facts
Source Class
Nuclear 1
First Commercial Year
1954 2
The Obninsk plant in the Soviet Union delivered the first nuclear electricity to a public grid in June 1954; Calder Hall in England, 1956, is often cited as the first industrial-scale nuclear station.
Nuclear Power
Filter Results8 entries
Connections

Associated With

Source Alvin Radkowsky (Wikipedia)
Source World Nuclear News
Source Chauncey Starr (Wikipedia)
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside (Wikipedia)
Source David E. Lilienthal (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia
Enrico Fermi, Pioneers
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Fritz Strassmann, Pioneers

Co-discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner, 1938.

Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Herbert L. Anderson (Wikipedia)
Source International Atomic Energy Agency Official Site
Source John Cockcroft (Wikipedia)
Leo Szilard, Pioneers
Source Leo Szilard (Wikipedia)
Leona Woods, Pioneers
Source Leona Woods (Wikipedia)
Source Lewis Strauss (Wikipedia)
Lise Meitner, Pioneers

Co-discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, 1938.

Source Lise Meitner (Wikipedia)
Source Marcel Boiteux (Wikipedia)
Marie Curie, Pioneers

The science of radioactivity she founded is the root of nuclear energy; she did not work on reactors, which came after her death.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Source Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site
Otto Hahn, Pioneers

Discovered nuclear fission of uranium with Fritz Strassmann and Lise Meitner, 1938.

Source Otto Hahn (Wikipedia)
Source Philip Abelson (Wikipedia)
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library

DOE stewards the US civilian and defense nuclear energy programs, successor to the Atomic Energy Commission under the 1977 DOE Organization Act.

Source World Nuclear Association Information Library

Open Questions

Used By

Source Accelerator-driven subcritical reactor, Wikipedia

Nuclear power plant construction project, Mersin Province, Turkey, built by Rosatom.

AP1000, Technologies
Source Wikipedia: AP1000
APR-1400, Technologies
Source Wikipedia: APR-1400

Nuclear power plant construction project, Al Dhafra, United Arab Emirates, the first nuclear plant in the Arab world.

Source Betavoltaic device - Wikipedia
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Wikipedia: Breeder reactor

Pressurized heavy water reactor station, Tiverton, Ontario, Canada, the largest operating nuclear facility in the world by unit count.

BWRX-300, Technologies
Source Wikipedia: BWRX-300
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
CAP1400, Technologies
Source Wikipedia: CAP1400

RBMK reactor station, Ukraine, site of the 1986 accident; Reactor 4 is entombed, the site is decommissioning.

Source Wikipedia: Dual fluid reactor
Source Wikipedia: Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
Source Wikipedia: EPR (nuclear reactor)

Boiling water reactor station, Fukushima, Japan, site of the 2011 accident; the plant is in decommissioning.

Source Wikipedia: Gas-cooled fast reactor
Source Wikipedia: Generation IV reactor

Nuclear power station construction project, Somerset, United Kingdom, two EPR reactors.

Source Wikipedia: Hualong One
Source Integral fast reactor, Wikipedia
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Liquid fluoride thorium reactor (Wikipedia)
Source Teollisuuden Voima Official Site

EPR reactor construction project, Olkiluoto, Finland, connected to the grid in 2022 after prolonged delays.

Source Maricopa County Official Site
Source Passive nuclear safety - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Pebble-bed reactor
Source Wikipedia: Photon-intermediate direct energy conversion

1974 French national program to rapidly expand nuclear power generation following the oil crisis.

Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: RBMK
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Sodium-cooled fast reactor (Wikipedia)

Every operating nuclear power plant generates through steam turbines.

Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Source Supercritical water reactor (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Swimming pool reactor
Source Traveling wave reactor, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: TRIGA
Source United States Energy Information Administration Official Site

AP1000 reactor construction project at Plant Vogtle, Georgia, United States, completed 2023-2024.

Source Wikipedia: VVER
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Sources
1. United States Energy Information Administration Official Site
US Energy Information AdministrationUsed By: Vogtle Units 3 and 4, Today in Energy, Vogtle Unit 4 commercial operation
Quote, Used By: Vogtle Units 3 and 4, Today in Energy, Vogtle Unit 4 commercial operation
Both Vogtle Units 3 and 4 use a newer reactor design, the Westinghouse AP1000
View the Source
2. World Nuclear Association Information Library
World Nuclear Association
  • Associated With: Thorium, Information Library, Thorium, Developing a thorium-based fuel cycle
    Uranium is abundant and cheap and forms only a small part of the cost of nuclear electricity generation, so there are no real incentives for investment in a new fuel type
  • Used By: Boiling Water Reactor, Information Library, Nuclear Power Reactors, Boiling water reactor (BWR)
    A BWR fuel assembly comprises 90-100 fuel rods, and there are up to 750 assemblies in a reactor core.
  • Used By: Small Modular Reactor, Information Library, Small Nuclear Power Reactors
    A few small reactors are already in operation and there are dozens of designs in development.
  • Used By: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Country Profiles, Ukraine, Nuclear industry development
    the largest nuclear power station in Europe, with a net capacity of 5700 MWe.
  • Associated With: Uranium, Revival of the nuclear boiler
    in June 1954 the world's first nuclear powered electricity generator began operation at the FEI in Obninsk.
  • Used By: CANDU Reactor, Nuclear Power in Canada
    Candu (Canada deuterium uranium) reactor in the late 1950s.
View the Source
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
  • Associated With: Marie Curie
  • Associated With: Enrico Fermi
View the Source
International Atomic Energy Agency Official Site
International Atomic Energy AgencyAssociated With: International Atomic Energy AgencyView the Source
World Nuclear News
World Nuclear AssociationAssociated With: Calder Hall Opens, UK marks 60th anniversary of Calder Hall
Quote, Associated With: Calder Hall Opens, UK marks 60th anniversary of Calder Hall
Although Magnox reactors were initially dual-purposed, combining power generation with plutonium production for military purposes, the latter function from 1964 was confined to other facilities at Windscale.
View the Source
Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Associated With: EDF, Electricite de France, Nuclear
    56 active nuclear reactors in France...spread out over 18 sites
  • Associated With: Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, lead
    Much of the current knowledge of nuclear reactor behavior was discovered at this remote facility.
View the Source
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site
Oak Ridge National LaboratoryAssociated With: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Decades of Discovery
Quote, Associated With: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Decades of Discovery
The Manhattan Project researchers accomplished that mission. Clinton Laboratories, or X-10, then began a rapid evolution into a research laboratory.
View the Source
Maricopa County Official Site
Maricopa County ArizonaUsed By: Palo Verde Generating Station, PVGS public information page
Quote, Used By: Palo Verde Generating Station, PVGS public information page
considered the largest nuclear energy facility in the United States
View the Source
Teollisuuden Voima Official Site
Teollisuuden Voima OyjUsed By: Olkiluoto 3, Releases 2023, Regular electricity production has started at Olkiluoto 3
Quote, Used By: Olkiluoto 3, Releases 2023, Regular electricity production has started at Olkiluoto 3
Europe's largest nuclear power plant unit
View the Source
Lise Meitner (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Lise Meitner, Wikipedia article lead
Quote, Associated With: Lise Meitner, Wikipedia article lead
nuclear physicist who was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission. After completing her doctoral research in 1906, Meitner became the
View the Source
Otto Hahn (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Otto Hahn, Wikipedia article lead
Quote, Associated With: Otto Hahn, Wikipedia article lead
to as the father of nuclear chemistry and discoverer of nuclear fission, the science behind nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Hahn and
View the Source
Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside, Wikipedia article lead
Quote, Associated With: Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside, Wikipedia article lead
of the construction of Calder Hall, the first large-scale nuclear power station in the West.
View the Source
Chauncey Starr (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Chauncey Starr, Wikipedia article lead
Quote, Associated With: Chauncey Starr, Wikipedia article lead
2007) was an American electrical engineer and an expert in nuclear energy. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Starr received an electrical engineering
View the Source
Marcel Boiteux (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Marcel Boiteux, Wikipedia article lead
Quote, Associated With: Marcel Boiteux, Wikipedia article lead
and senior civil service member. He was the "architect of the French nuclear program" that created 61 nuclear reactors and kept the French electricity
View the Source
Alvin Radkowsky (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Alvin Radkowsky, Wikipedia article lead
Quote, Associated With: Alvin Radkowsky, Wikipedia article lead
His work in the 1950s led to major advances in nuclear-ship technology and civilian use of nuclear power.
View the Source
Sodium-cooled fast reactor (Wikipedia)
Used By: Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor, Lead
As fast-neutron reactors, sodium-cooled fast reactors require nuclear fuel with a higher enrichment to attain criticality than thermal reactors like LWRs.
View the Source
Wikipedia: RBMK
WikipediaUsed By: RBMK Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: RBMK Reactor, Lead
The RBMK (Russian: Реактор большой мощности канальный, РБМК; reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalnyy, "high-power channel-type reactor") is a class of graphite-moderated nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Pebble-bed reactor
WikipediaUsed By: Pebble Bed Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Pebble Bed Reactor, Lead
A pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a type of nuclear reactor where the nuclear fuel is contained within a bed of pyrolytic graphite spheres (pebbles), with the graphite serving as a neutron moderator.
View the Source
Accelerator-driven subcritical reactor, Wikipedia
Used By: Accelerator-Driven Subcritical Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Accelerator-Driven Subcritical Reactor, Lead
An accelerator-driven subcritical reactor (ADSR) is a nuclear reactor design formed by coupling a substantially subcritical nuclear reactor core with a high-energy proton or electron accelerator.
View the Source
Traveling wave reactor, Wikipedia
Used By: Traveling Wave Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Traveling Wave Reactor, Lead
A traveling-wave reactor (TWR) is a proposed type of nuclear fission reactor that can convert fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation, in tandem with the burnup of fissile material.
View the Source
Integral fast reactor, Wikipedia
Used By: Integral Fast Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Integral Fast Reactor, Lead
The integral fast reactor (IFR), originally the advanced liquid-metal reactor (ALMR), is a design for a nuclear reactor using fast neutrons and no neutron moderator (a "fast" reactor).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Swimming pool reactor
Used By: Swimming Pool Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Swimming Pool Reactor, Lead
A swimming pool reactor, also called an open pool reactor, is a type of nuclear reactor that has a core (consisting of the fuel elements and the control rods) immersed in an open pool usually of water.
View the Source
Wikipedia: TRIGA
WikipediaUsed By: TRIGA Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: TRIGA Reactor, Lead
TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Gas-cooled fast reactor
Used By: Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor, Lead
The gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) system is a nuclear reactor design in development.
View the Source
Liquid fluoride thorium reactor (Wikipedia)
Used By: Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, Lead
The liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR; often pronounced lifter) is a type of molten salt reactor.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Generation IV reactor
Used By: Generation IV Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Generation IV Reactor, Lead
Generation IV (Gen IV) reactors are nuclear reactor design technologies that are envisioned as successors of generation III reactors.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Breeder reactor
Used By: Breeder Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Breeder Reactor, Lead
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes.
View the Source
Supercritical water reactor (Wikipedia)
Used By: Supercritical Water Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Supercritical Water Reactor, Lead
The term critical in this context refers to the critical point of water, and should not be confused with the concept of criticality of the nuclear reactor.
View the Source
Wikipedia: BWRX-300
Used By: BWRX-300, Lead
Quote, Used By: BWRX-300, Lead
The BWRX-300 is a design for a small modular nuclear reactor proposed by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Hualong One
Used By: Hualong One, Lead
Quote, Used By: Hualong One, Lead
'China Dragon №1') is a Chinese Generation III pressurized water nuclear reactor jointly developed by the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
View the Source
Wikipedia: APR-1400
Used By: APR-1400, Lead
Quote, Used By: APR-1400, Lead
The APR-1400 (for Advanced Power Reactor 1400 MW electricity) is an advanced pressurized water nuclear reactor designed by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
Used By: Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, Lead
All are designs by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH), and are based on previous Boiling Water Reactor designs.
View the Source
Passive nuclear safety - Wikipedia
Used By: Passive Nuclear Safety, Lead
Quote, Used By: Passive Nuclear Safety, Lead
Passive nuclear safety is a design approach for safety features, implemented in a nuclear reactor, that does not require any active intervention on the part of the operator or electrical/electronic feedback in order to bring the reactor to a safe shutdown state, in the event of a particular type of emergency (usually overheating resulting from a loss of coolant or loss of coolant flow).
View the Source
Wikipedia: AP1000
Used By: AP1000, Lead
Quote, Used By: AP1000, Lead
The AP1000 (Advanced Passive 1000) is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Dual fluid reactor
Used By: Dual Fluid Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: Dual Fluid Reactor, Lead
The Dual Fluid Reactor is classified by its developers as the first Generation V nuclear reactor, characterized by the physical separation of liquid metallic fuel and coolant and by the provision for continuous fuel processing beyond Generation IV reactor concepts.
View the Source
Wikipedia: CAP1400
Used By: CAP1400, Lead
Quote, Used By: CAP1400, Lead
The CAP1400, later renamed Guohe One, is a Chinese Generation III+ reactor Pressurized water reactor developed by the State Power Investment Corporation.
View the Source
Wikipedia: VVER
WikipediaUsed By: VVER Reactor, Design
Quote, Used By: VVER Reactor, Design
water flows through the fuel assemblies which are heated by the nuclear chain reaction
View the Source
Wikipedia: Photon-intermediate direct energy conversion
Used By: Photon-Intermediate Direct Energy Conversion, Lead
Quote, Used By: Photon-Intermediate Direct Energy Conversion, Lead
Photon-intermediate direct energy conversion (PIDEC) is a scheme for direct conversion of nuclear power to electricity.
View the Source
Wikipedia: EPR (nuclear reactor)
Used By: European Pressurized Reactor, Lead
Quote, Used By: European Pressurized Reactor, Lead
The EPR is a Generation III+ pressurised water reactor design.
View the Source
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia
Used By: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, Lead
Quote, Used By: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, Lead
convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity
View the Source
Betavoltaic device - Wikipedia
Used By: Betavoltaic Device, Lead
Quote, Used By: Betavoltaic Device, Lead
a type of nuclear battery that generates electric current from beta particles
View the Source
Leo Szilard (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Leo Szilard, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Leo Szilard, Lead section
He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, and patented the idea in 1936.
View the Source
Leona Woods (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Leona Woods, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Leona Woods, Lead section
Leona Harriet Woods (August 9, 1919, November 10, 1986), later known as Leona Woods Marshall and Leona Woods Marshall Libby, was an American physicist who helped build the first nuclear reactor and the first atomic bomb.
View the Source
John Cockcroft (Wikipedia)
Associated With: John Cockcroft, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: John Cockcroft, Lead section
Sir John Douglas Cockcroft (27 May 1897-18 September 1967) was a British experimental physicist who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ernest Walton for their splitting of the atomic nucleus, which led to the development of nuclear power and weapons.
View the Source
David E. Lilienthal (Wikipedia)
Associated With: David Lilienthal, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: David Lilienthal, Lead section
As chair of the AEC, he was one of the pioneers in civilian management of nuclear power resources.
View the Source
Lewis Strauss (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Lewis Strauss, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Lewis Strauss, Lead section
Strauss was a major figure in the development of nuclear weapons after World War II, nuclear energy policy, and nuclear power in the United States.
View the Source
Herbert L. Anderson (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Herbert L. Anderson, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Herbert L. Anderson, Lead section
He was also a member of the team which made the first demonstration of nuclear fission in the United States, in the basement of Pupin Hall at Columbia University.
View the Source
Philip Abelson (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Philip Abelson, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Philip Abelson, Lead section
Trained as a nuclear physicist, he co-discovered the element neptunium, worked on isotope separation in the Manhattan Project, and wrote the first study of nuclear marine propulsion for submarines.
View the Source
Open Questions (1 open question)
When will deep geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste become operational at scale?

Finland's Onkalo repository, the furthest advanced in the world, remains without an operating licence as of early 2026, with the regulator STUK's decision delayed until the end of June 2026, while the United States shelved its Yucca Mountain repository in 2010 after decades of preparation and billions of dollars of investment, with no replacement site designated since. No country has yet begun routine operation of a deep geological repository for high-level waste, so estimates of when this technology will be proven at scale rest on regulatory and political timelines as much as engineering ones.

What would resolve this Onkalo receiving its operating licence and beginning waste emplacement, or a comparable repository elsewhere reaching the same milestone, would establish a real-world operating timeline rather than a projected one.
Nuclear engineering and geology, together with energy policyWikipedia
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