Eurostat: EU nuclear power generation fell by 17% in 2022

According to data published by Eurostat, nuclear electricity generation in the EU fell by approximately 17% in 2022 compared with 2021. Nuclear power plants in Europe therefore generated around 609 TWh of electricity that year, the lowest figure since 1990, when data on electricity generation began to be collected at the European level. 

Despite the decline in energy production, nuclear power accounted for more than a fifth of total electricity generation in 2022. The drop in generation that year was primarily due to necessary work involving repairs and regular outages at the units of France, Europe's largest producer. The 2022 figures show that French reactors generated 84 630 GWh less than in 2021.

Germany also contributed to the decline, having shut down three of the six nuclear units then still operating in the country on the last day of 2021. Bulgaria followed suit, also closing one of its reactors in September 2022, bringing the number of active units in Europe to 103 at the end of 2022.

France leads nuclear power generation

Despite the outages at French reactors, France made the largest contribution to Europe's nuclear energy mix. In 2022, it generated almost 295 TWh of electricity from nuclear power plants, roughly half of the total in the EU. Spain came second, producing nearly 60 TWh, closely followed by Sweden with 52 TWh and Belgium in fourth place with 43,9 TWh. These four countries are the EU's largest producers of nuclear electricity.

France also traditionally had the highest share of electricity generated from nuclear power, at almost 63% of its total generation. The only other country where nuclear power accounted for more than 50% of electricity generation was Slovakia, at just over 60% of total electricity generation in 2022.