Over half of Ukraine's energy comes from nuclear sources, shows data

France and Slovakia are the only countries to have a higher share of domestic generation from nuclear

Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s largest power plant, caught fire last week in an episode that brought the world closer to a nuclear accident. Soon after, Russian forces moved in to take control of the plant. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian troops were advancing to take control of the country’s third power plant.

Ukraine is one of the few countries that rely heavily on nuclear power for electricity generation. Data from the International Energy Agency shows that Ukraine was among the three countries where nuclear sources accounted for over 50 per cent of energy generation. France had the largest share in 2020, with two-thirds of its energy coming from nuclear sources, followed by the Slovak Republic with a 53.9 per cent share and Ukraine with a 53.6 per cent share.

The share of nuclear energy has been decreasing worldwide, but in Ukraine, it has increased over the last decade. In 1995, 17.5 per cent of the world’s total energy gen­e­ration was from nuclear sources, but it de­c­lined subsequently. By 2010, it had alre­a­dy come down to 12.8 per cent, and nu­clear reliance decreased further after the Fuku­shima disaster in Japan. In 2019, a tenth of global energy genera­tion was from nuclear sources.

Japan produced 24.6 per cent of its energy from nuclear sources in 2010; by 2015, this ratio had come down to 0.9 per cent. In 2020, only 3.5 per cent of Japan’s energy came from nuclear sources.

In contrast, in Ukraine, while 47.2 per cent of the energy came from nuc­l­ear po­wer plants in 2010, the ratio had incr­eased to 53.6 per cent a decade later. Ukra­i­ne’s dependence on nuclear declined from 47.7 per cent in 2005 to 47.2 per cent in 2010.

Russia is the only country where dependence on nuclear energy has risen consistently in the last three decades. Only a tenth of Russian electricity generation was nuclear in 1990, but a fifth came from nuclear sources in 2020.

For Europe, the share has declined from a peak of 30 per cent in 2000 to 22.6 per cent in 2020. France has fallen from a peak of 78.4 per cent in 2005 to 66.5 per cent in 2020.

China’s nuclear share nearly tripled from 1.7 per cent in 2010 to 4.6 per cent in 2019. The compounded annual growth rate of energy in China between 2015 and 2019 was 19.5 per cent — higher than any other country in the world.

On the other hand, India has not made much development in its nuclear energy programme. In 2000, 3 per cent of all energy generated in the country was from nuclear sources. While generation from nuclear sources has increased, the share has remained in the 2.7-2.8 per cent range.

Europe, US and China accounted for 75.4 per cent of the world’s total nuclear energy genera­tion. Their share has declined from 76.6 per cent in 2015.