EU nuclear energy production increased by 4.8% in 2024, in Romania it decreased slightly

The 12 EU member states with operational nuclear reactors generated a combined 649,524 GWh of electricity in 2024, 4.8% more than in 2023, the second consecutive year of growth in nuclear energy production in the bloc, according to data published on Thursday by Eurostat.

According to these data, nuclear power plants were responsible for 23.3% of total electricity production in the EU.

The largest nuclear energy producer in the EU, France, was responsible for more than half (58.6%) of all nuclear energy produced in the bloc (380,451 GWh). The following countries were: Spain with 54,510 GWh (or 8.4% of the EU total), Sweden (50,665 GWh; 7.8%) and Finland (32,599 GWh; 5%).

Compared to 2023, nuclear power production increased the most in France (12.5%), Sweden (4.5%) and Slovenia (4.2%). The other nuclear power producers recorded production decreases, ranging from minus 0.6% in Slovenia to minus 10.3% in the Netherlands.

In the case of Romania, the two reactors at Cernavoda produced 10,912 GWh in 2024, down from 11,191 GWh in 2023. Romania’s nuclear power production is lower than that of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

In the EU, the only Member States with a lower nuclear power production than Romania are the Netherlands and Slovenia.

France remained the country with the highest dependence on nuclear energy, which in 2024 was responsible for 67.3% of total electricity production. Another Member State where more than half of the electricity was produced in nuclear power plants is Slovakia (61.6%). In contrast, only 2.9% of the electricity produced in the Netherlands came from nuclear power plants.

Between 2006 and 2024, contrary to the general trend at the European Union level, seven Member States increased their nuclear electricity production.

In first place is Romania, whose nuclear energy production only started in 1996, where between 2006 and 2024 nuclear energy production recorded a jump of 93.8%. Other countries where nuclear power production increased are: Finland (42.3%), Hungary (19%), Czech Republic (14.2%), Slovenia (5.2%), Netherlands (3.2%) and Slovakia (1.2%).

During the same period, the rest of the countries (including the main producers) reduced their nuclear power production. Lithuania permanently closed its nuclear facilities in 2009, Germany in April 2023. Belgium recorded the largest decrease (minus 33%), followed by Sweden (minus 24.4%), Bulgaria (minus 19.6%), France (minus 15.5%) and Spain (minus 9.3%).