Top 10 Nuclear and Green Power Nations
By Goldsea Staff | 09 Oct, 2025

Power-hungry AI data centers for future development and prosperity will be limited by a nation's nuclear and green power generation capacity.

Two big conflicting priorities of leading industrial nations are reducing greenhouse gas emissions while generating enough energy to power the massive data centers needed to support vigorous AI deployment.  

From this perspective China is currently far better positioned than the US or most other leading nations.  Not only is its total power generation over twice as large as the US in proportion to their respective GDPs, but the share of nuclear and renewable power is about four times higher.  In part it can thank the gargantuan electricity output from its Three Gorges Dam, by far the world's biggest hydroelectric generator, capable of generating up to 115 TWh — enough to power about 335 million homes.  And the mega-dam China is building on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet will generate three times that.

Another standout is S. Korea which, despite its population of only 50 million, is fifth globally in nuclear power generation, surpassing larger, more populous nations like Japan and India.  However its renewable energy sector is surprisingly modest at around 27 TWh, only about 5% of that nation's power needs.

India, with its 1.4 billion mostly non-industrial population, is fast becoming a clean-energy power, having now entered the top 10 in nuclear and ranking third, below only China and the US, in renewable energy generation.

The statistical support for this analysis was elicited from Meta and ChatGPT with the prompt:

What are the top 10 countries in terms of the amount of nuclear power they actually generate per year, and include comparisons of power from solar, wind and other renewable sources, as well as their total power generation.

Meta:

Here are the top 10 countries in nuclear power generation with their total power generation from all sources and the breakdown of renewable energy generation:1. United States

• Nuclear power generation: 779,186 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 4,300,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 18.2%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 140,882 GWh
• Wind: 435,234 GWh
• Other renewables: 357,141 GWh

2. China

• Nuclear power generation: 406,484 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 9,000,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 4.5%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 428,620 GWh
• Wind: 764,444 GWh
• Other renewables: 1,193,811 GWh

3. France

• Nuclear power generation: 323,773 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 540,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 67.3% for electricity, but note total energy mix may vary)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 20,368 GWh
• Wind: 29,224 GWh
• Other renewables: 67,341 GWh

4. Russia

• Nuclear power generation: 203,957 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 1,140,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 17.8%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Limited data available, but majority comes from hydroelectric power

5. South Korea

• Nuclear power generation: 171,640 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 545,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 31.5% for electricity)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 23,575 GWh
• Wind: 3,876 GWh
• Other renewables: limited data available

6. Canada

• Nuclear power generation: 83,465 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 623,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 13.4%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 5,970 GWh
• Wind: 34,555 GWh
• Hydro: majority of renewable energy comes from hydroelectric power

7. Japan

• Nuclear power generation: 77,539 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 970,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 8%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 74,832 GWh
• Wind: 5,289 GWh
• Other renewables: growing, especially solar

8. Spain

• Nuclear power generation: 54,371 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 273,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 19.9%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 32,823 GWh
• Wind: 62,000 GWh (2022 data)

9. Sweden

• Nuclear power generation: 46,648 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 160,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 29.1%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Hydro: majority of renewable energy comes from hydroelectric power
• Wind: approximately 27 TWh (2022 data)

10. India

• Nuclear power generation: 44,646 GWh
• Total power generation: approximately 1,353,000 GWh (calculated based on nuclear share of 3.3%)
• Renewable energy generation:
• Solar: 88,221 GWh
• Wind: 71,814 GWh
• Other renewables: growing, with significant investments in solar and wind ¹ ².