A ceremony has been held to mark the final official acceptance of unit 3 at the Karachi nuclear power plant in Pakistan's Sindh province. Constructed by China National Nuclear Corporation, it is the second Chinese-supplied Hualong One reactor at the site.

Nuclear Power Generated in TeraWatt Hours —-Pakistan 21.7 terawatt hours. US tops with 823 TWh

Country Generated GWh Supplied Reactors Nuclear Share

United States 823,100 781,945 94 18.2%
China 450,900 417,518 57 4.7%
France 380,500 364,391 57 67.3%
Russia 215,700 202,104 37 17.8%
South Korea 188,800
Canada 85,500 81,156 19 13.4%
Japan 84,900
India 54,700 49,910 20 3.3%
Spain 54,600 52,129 7 19.9%
Sweden 50,600 48,697 6 29.1%
United Kingdom 40,600 37,295 9 12.3%
United Arab Emirates 40,600 36,504 4 21.8%
Finland 32,600 31,128 5 39.1%
Belgium 31,200 29,732 5 54.5%

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/nuclear-power-by...

‘Pakistan produced record 21.7TWh nuclear energy in 2024’

https://www.dawn.com/news/1944409

• Yearly report on nuclear energy criticises Chashma-5 for high cost, precedence over renewable energy projects
• World Nuclear Industry Status Report says solar outshone nuclear in terms of efficiency, cost; reveals Pakistan’s renewable energy, including hydro, rose to 15.2GW from 14.2GW in 2023

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s net nuclear energy generation touched a record 21.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024, even though overall electricity costs and inefficiencies reached a systematic tipping point, forcing consumers to switch to renewables, particularly solar, said the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) 2025.

“Pakistan operates six nuclear reactors with a combined (net) capacity of 3.3 gigawatts (GW). Nuclear electricity production has increased from 21.3TWh in 2023 to a new all-time high of 21.7TWh (net) in 2024,” it said, adding Pakistan started developing another 1200MW plant in December 2024 with Chinese support.

The share of electricity from nuclear power plants to the commercial grid increased from the 16.2pc peak in 2023 to a record 17pc in 2024, it said, adding all operating reactors were built by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). This includes two Hualong One reactors (Kanupp-2 and Kanupp-3) outside Karachi and four CNP-300 nuclear reactors in Chashma.

CNNC was also building another 1200-MW Hualong One reactor in Chashma (Unit 5). The agreement to build this reactor dates back to 2017, but it took over seven years to progress to the formal construction start, i.e. first pour of concrete for the base slab of the reactor building, which occurred on December 30, 2024. It is China’s only ongoing nuclear newbuild project abroad and represents the first non-Russian construction start anywhere in the world in the past five years.

In January this year, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority published an estimated overnight cost of Rs966 billion ($3.4bn) for the Chashma-5 project and the total cost (including financing and other costs) of Rs1.125 trillion ($4 billion). The majority of the cost is planned to be covered by credit from China for the project to start production by 2030, the report said, adding the project had been criticised for its high cost of power, and shelving renewable energy projects to make way for it.

The report said India had 21 operational nuclear power reactors, with a total net generating capacity of 7.4GW, more than double that of Pakistan (3.3GW), and New Delhi planned to add another 100GW by 2047, a target unlikely to be met.

Renewables vs nuclear

Talking about global trends, the report said solar energy added hundreds of gigawatts globally while nuclear remained irrelevant in market development in 2024. “As storage passed a trigger point, there are first signs of a revolution behind the meter and low-income countries are starting to leapfrog,” it said.

In 2024, total investment in non-hydro renewable electricity capacity reached a record $728bn, 21 times the reported global investment in nuclear energy. “Solar and wind power capacities grew by 32 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively, resulting in 565GW of combined new capacity, over 100 times the 5.4 GW of net nuclear capacity addition. Global wind and solar facilities generated 70 per cent more electricity than nuclear plants”.

Not only this, as challenges of integrating nuclear power into the energy system remain, new energy technologies disrupt markets and systems. Photovoltaics directly produce electricity from solar radiation in harmless nanometre-thin semiconductor junctions, allowing for ongoing steep cost reductions and performance increases. This is complemented by similar advances in power electronics and batteries.