Which reactor technology dominated each era
PWR has been the most-connected technology in every one of the last three decades with connections. BWR, GCR and LWGR, common earlier on, have connected nothing in over two decades.
Counted by the decade a unit connected to the grid, for units now operating or retired; units still under construction or planned are left out, since they have not connected yet. See the current fleet by type for today's snapshot of the same categories.
| Decade | PWR | BWR | PHWR | GCR | LWGR | FBR | HTGR | Total | Dominant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 2 | 1 | - | 8 | 1 | - | - | 12 | GCR |
| 1960s | 15 | 16 | 8 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 70 | GCR |
| 1970s | 79 | 44 | 13 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 161 | PWR |
| 1980s | 150 | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 221 | PWR |
| 1990s | 32 | 3 | 12 | - | 1 | 1 | - | 49 | PWR |
| 2000s | 20 | - | 8 | - | - | - | - | 28 | PWR |
| 2010s | 58 | - | 3 | - | - | 1 | - | 62 | PWR |
| 2020s | 29 | - | 3 | - | - | - | 1 | 33 | PWR |
Reactor types in full: PWR (Pressurised water reactor), BWR (Boiling water reactor), PHWR (Pressurised heavy water reactor), GCR (Gas-cooled reactor), LWGR (Light water graphite reactor), FBR (Fast reactor), HTGR (High-temperature gas reactor).
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data
Cite this page
NuclearChain. "Which reactor technology dominated each era." https://nuclearchain.net/technology-mix/. Accessed 2026. Built on the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, CC BY 4.0.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with that attribution. Download the data.