Executive Summary

The Nuclear Power Market was valued at 36.5 USD Billion in 2025 and is projected to reach 49.2 USD Billion by 2035, registering a CAGR of 3.05% over the forecast period.

Growth rests on France’s 2024 Energy Law, which mandates six new EPR2 reactors, and the United States’ Section 45U production tax credit under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which keeps existing reactors running rather than retiring on schedule.

Asia Pacific held 35.1% of global nuclear-energy revenue in 2025, the largest of any region tracked. Pressurized Water Reactors led the Reactor Type axis, and Large Reactors led the Reactor Size axis.

Capital intensity and multi-year construction schedules remain the binding constraint on new-build pace. Competition is fragmented, spanning reactor vendors, EPC contractors and utilities across differentiated capacity classes.

Key Takeaways

• The market stood at USD 36.47 Billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 49.25 Billion by 2035, a CAGR of 3.05%.
• On reactor type, the leading category is Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs).
• Large Reactors holds the largest position on reactor size.
• The largest region is Asia Pacific accounted for 35.1% of global nuclear-energy revenue in, at 2025.0% in 2025.
• 15 suppliers are profiled, in a fragmented market.

Market Definition and Scope

The Nuclear Power Market covers electricity generation from Pressurized Water Reactors, Boiling Water Reactors, Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors, and gas-cooled, graphite-moderated and fast breeder designs, spanning Large Reactors above 700 MWe and Small Modular Reactors under 300 MWe, together with reactor equipment, EPC construction and O&M services delivered to utilities, independent power producers and industrial offtakers.

It excludes fossil-fuel and renewable generation, upstream uranium mining and enrichment, radioactive waste management, and medical isotope production, which sit in adjacent value chains outside this boundary.

Growth Drivers and Restraints

France’s 2024 Energy Law Commits the Grid to Six New EPR2 Units

France’s 2024 Energy Law, enacted by the national government, mandates construction of six new EPR2 reactors, directing capital toward large-reactor engineering, procurement and construction contractors rather than distributed generation. Each unit still requires its own final investment decision before pouring first concrete, but the mandate widens the addressable base for the Pressurized Water Reactor segment, which already leads the Reactor Type axis. Rising carbon costs under the EU Emissions Trading System improve nuclear’s levelized cost of electricity position against unabated gas, and the programme gives other EU governments weighing EU Green Deal and REPowerEU baseload targets a domestic reference project for large-reactor ordering.

US Production Tax Credits Are Extending Reactor Life Rather Than Retiring Capacity

The US Inflation Reduction Act’s Section 45U zero-emission nuclear production credit, in force since 2022, pays existing US reactors a per-megawatt-hour credit, shifting utility economics from retirement toward continued operation. That credit, paired with Nuclear Regulatory Commission subsequent license renewal reviews permitting operation beyond original license terms, channels capital into life-extension and uprate work on the installed Large Reactor fleet rather than new construction. Utilities are increasingly locking in that extended output through long-tenor PPAs with corporate and industrial offtakers, a structure that also benefits once FERC’s Order 2023 interconnection reform speeds the grid studies that uprate projects still require.

Data-Centre Load Growth Is Pulling Utilities Toward Firm Nuclear Supply

The European Commission’s Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 requires data centres above 500 kW to report energy consumption and renewable share from 2024 onward, sharpening operator focus on firm, measurable power sourcing. In parallel, the US Department of Energy’s 2026 SPARK transmission programme targets interconnection queue congestion, the same bottleneck that delays new nuclear capacity from reaching hyperscale and industrial offtakers. Where queue timelines run past a hyperscaler’s build schedule, some operators are pursuing behind-the-meter arrangements directly with reactor sites rather than waiting on transmission-level interconnection.

Capital Intensity and Construction Duration Keep Financing the Binding Constraint

Large-reactor projects, such as France’s six-unit EPR2 programme, require capital committed over many years between final investment decision and commissioning, exposing financiers and offtakers to interest-rate risk that accumulates across the build schedule. BNEF’s levelized-cost benchmarking places new nuclear above new-build solar and onshore wind, a gap that pushes sponsors toward Contracts-for-Difference-style price guarantees to make a positive FID possible at all. Emerging-market utilities and independent power producers with weaker balance sheets absorb this most acutely, since cost escalation during long builds falls disproportionately on parties without access to sovereign-backed financing or long-tenor project debt.

Interconnection Queue Congestion Delays New Capacity Reaching the Grid

New nuclear capacity, like other large generation projects, must clear transmission interconnection queues before commissioning. Congestion on existing US corridors was severe enough to prompt the Department of Energy’s USD 1.9 billion SPARK reconductoring programme in 2026, even after FERC’s Order 2023 interconnection reform tightened queue-management deadlines for transmission owners. Utilities in queue-constrained grid areas, including those inside ENTSO-E-coordinated European markets facing comparable congestion, absorb the resulting schedule slippage most directly, deferring revenue recognition on completed reactors until transmission capacity catches up with generation.

Market Trends

Small Modular Reactors Are Moving From Design Concept to Deployment Pipeline

Small Modular Reactors, generally under 300 MWe and built for factory fabrication, are drawing developer interest as a more flexible alternative to conventional large-reactor construction. Utilities and industrial site operators evaluating firm, low-carbon power now weigh SMR designs, including water-cooled, high-temperature gas-cooled and molten-salt variants, against traditional Large Reactor builds. Over the forecast period, this shifts new project announcements toward modular, incrementally financed capacity additions.

France’s EPR2 Mandate Restarts Large-Reactor New-Build in Europe

France’s 2024 Energy Law commits the country to six new EPR2 units, reversing a period in which large-reactor orders in Europe were rare. The mandate concentrates near-term engineering, procurement and construction demand on Pressurized Water Reactor designs and the domestic supply chain built to deliver them, giving other EU governments a reference project for large-reactor ordering through 2035 rather than a full pivot to SMRs.

Data-Centre Power Reporting Rules Are Tying Hyperscale Demand to Firm Nuclear Supply

The European Commission’s Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 requires data centres above 500 kW to report energy consumption, IT load and renewable share to a central EU database from 2024 onward. That obligation makes power sourcing a disclosed, auditable metric rather than an internal decision, pushing hyperscale operators toward offtake structures that guarantee firm, low-carbon supply as data-centre electricity demand grows through the forecast period.

Segment Analysis

Reactor Type

• Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) (largest) – A reactor design that keeps primary coolant water under high pressure to prevent boiling, transferring heat to a secondary loop that generates steam for turbines

• Generation II PWRs
• Generation III/III+ PWRs
• Small Modular PWRs
• VVER
• Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) – A reactor design in which water boils directly inside the reactor core, and the resulting steam is piped straight to the turbine to generate electricity

• Generation II BWRs
• Advanced BWRs (ABWR)
• Economic Simplified BWRs (ESBWR)
• Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) – A reactor design using heavy water (deuterium oxide) as both coolant and moderator, allowing it to run on natural, unenriched uranium fuel

• CANDU
• Enhanced CANDU/IPHWR
• Others – Alternative reactor designs such as gas-cooled, fast breeder, and graphite-moderated reactors that fall outside the PWR, BWR, and PHWR categories

• Gas-Cooled Reactors
• Light Water Graphite Reactors (RBMK)
• Fast Breeder Reactors
• High-Temperature Gas Reactors

Pressurized Water Reactors lead the reactor-type segmentation in 2025, ahead of Boiling Water Reactors, Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors and other designs. The lead rests on operating history: PWRs carry decades of licensed fleet experience across France, the United States, China and South Korea, giving utilities a proven safety case, mature enriched-fuel supply chains, and vendors, including Westinghouse, Framatome and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, with established EPC track records. Regulators weigh demonstrated operating history heavily when reviewing new-build licenses, reinforcing the incumbent design’s position. Advanced designs grouped under Others, spanning high-temperature gas and fast breeder concepts, are growing fastest among announced projects. Developers such as TerraPower and X-Energy are advancing these reactors for process-heat and load-following applications that conventional PWRs serve poorly, pulling early-stage capital toward demonstration-scale builds.

Reactor Size

• Large Reactors (largest) – Conventional nuclear power plants with reactor capacity typically above 700 MWe, built on-site to generate baseload electricity for national grids

• Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
• Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)
• Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)
• Gas-Cooled Reactor (GCR/AGR)
• Light Water Graphite Reactor (LWGR/RBMK)
• Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) – Compact nuclear reactors, generally under 300 MWe, designed for factory fabrication and modular installation to power grids, industrial sites, or remote locations

• Water-Cooled SMR
• High-Temperature Gas-Cooled SMR
• Liquid Metal-Cooled Fast SMR
• Molten Salt SMR
• Microreactor

Large Reactors remain the leading reactor-size category, supplying the baseload capacity national grids have depended on for decades. Utilities favor large units for lower cost per installed megawatt and for fitting existing transmission infrastructure sized around gigawatt-scale plants. Small Modular Reactors are growing fastest, drawing rising developer commitment as a more flexible alternative. Vendors including NuScale, Holtec International, Rolls-Royce SMR and X-Energy are advancing factory-fabricated designs sized for industrial sites, remote grids and utilities unable to finance a multi-billion-dollar large unit. Lower upfront capital and shorter construction schedules are pulling both new entrants and incumbent nuclear utilities toward SMR pilot programs, making the category the primary route for capacity growth outside established large-fleet markets.

Regional Analysis

Asia Pacific accounted for 35.1% of global nuclear-energy revenue in 2025, the largest of the five regions covered. China and India anchor the region’s build-out; India’s Central Electricity Authority updated its transmission planning criteria in January 2025, directing state utilities to reserve substation space for the reactive-power equipment that new low-carbon generation, including nuclear capacity, needs to connect reliably.

North America’s nuclear fleet is expanding through life extension rather than new construction. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved 11 subsequent license renewals between 2024 and 2025 under its Subsequent License Renewal Program, pushing operating licenses for existing reactors toward 80 years and deferring the need for large-scale replacement capacity.

Europe’s nuclear capacity remains concentrated in state-linked utilities with long operating histories. Electricite de France operates the country’s reactor fleet and anchors the region’s baseload generation. EPC awards and reactor-life decisions at French and British utilities are what will set the pace of Europe’s capacity replacement cycle through the forecast period.

The United Arab Emirates represents USD 5.6 Billion of the Middle East and Africa nuclear market. Grid operator TAQA Transmission is installing reactive-power equipment across the Abu Dhabi network, including a capacitor bank at Towayya, Al Ain, in July 2024 and a STATCOM at Zakher, Al Ain, in September 2024, built explicitly to handle a changing generation mix that includes nuclear alongside solar.

Latin America’s nuclear capacity is limited to a small number of long-operating plants run by state utilities. New build in the region has historically depended on multilateral and sovereign financing rather than merchant investment, so project timelines track development-bank commitments more closely than utility capital budgets.

Competitive Landscape

The nuclear power market is fragmented, spanning state-owned utilities, reactor original equipment manufacturers, EPC contractors and a growing set of small modular reactor developers. Competition centers on levelized cost of electricity, project development pipeline and land position, EPC execution record, and balance-sheet strength, since new-build reactors require financing over construction periods that can run a decade or longer. Technology efficiency, fuel-cycle capability and O&M availability guarantees carry additional weight in vendor selection, particularly for utilities extending existing fleets rather than commissioning new units. Local content compliance is an increasing differentiator as governments tie new licenses and financing to domestic manufacturing commitments, favoring nationally anchored majors in their home markets while pushing some OEMs toward joint ventures for offshore projects. No single company holds a disclosed share of the market; the field is led by established players including Electricite de France, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, China National Nuclear Corporation, Westinghouse Electric Company, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Framatome, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, BWX Technologies, Bechtel Corporation, Fluor Corporation’s NuScale, Holtec International, TerraPower, Rolls-Royce SMR and X-Energy.

Strategic Outlook

Small Modular Reactors represent the clearest whitespace through 2035: factory fabrication and lower upfront capital could bring nuclear generation to industrial sites and grids that could never finance a large plant, benefiting developers such as NuScale, Holtec and X-Energy, provided first-of-a-kind units clear licensing and construction schedules without the delays that have historically dogged large-reactor builds.

The market’s structure is expected to broaden beyond state utilities and legacy OEMs by 2035, as SMR developers and advanced-reactor vendors capture a growing share of new licenses, while life-extension programs keep large PWR and BWR fleets as the dominant near-term generation base.

Nuclear Power Market Report Scope