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On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity for a power grid, the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, commenced operations in Obninsk, in the Soviet Union. [13] [14] [15] The world's first full scale power station, Calder Hall in the United Kingdom, opened on October 17, 1956 and was also meant to produce ...
The world's first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England was connected to the national power grid on 27 August 1956. In common with a number of other generation I reactors , the plant had the dual purpose of producing electricity and plutonium-239 , the latter for the nascent nuclear weapons program in Britain .
This table lists all currently operational power stations. Some of these may have reactors under construction, but only current net capacity is listed. Capacity of permanently shut-down reactors is not included, but capacity of long-term shut-down reactors (today mainly in Japan) is included.
Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear fuel, natural gas, oil shale and peat, while renewable power stations run on fuel sources such as biomass, geothermal heat, hydro, solar energy, solar heat, tides and the wind. Only the most significant fuel source is listed for power stations that run on multiple sources.
Nuclear power plants operate in 32 countries and generate about a tenth of the world's electricity. [2] Most are in Europe, North America and East Asia. The United States is the largest producer of nuclear power, while France has the largest share of electricity generated by nuclear power, at about 70%. [3]
Nuclear power accounts for about 18% of US electricity generation. Natural gas accounts for 40%, coal 20%, and renewables including wind, solar, and hydropower about 21%.
The first magnox power station, Calder Hall, was the world's first nuclear power station to generate electrical power on an industrial scale [12] (a power station in Obninsk, Russia started supplying the grid in very small non-commercial quantities on 1 December 1954).
The world is desperate for a clean, abundant source of energy that can replace fossil fuels as an always-available baseload power: nuclear fusion promises to be just that.