In 2023, nuclear power plants in 13 EU countries generated a total of 619,601 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, marking a 1.7% increase from 2022. This growth was primarily driven by France, which successfully completed maintenance on its reactors. Nuclear energy accounted for 22.8% of the EU’s total electricity production.
France remained the EU’s largest nuclear power producer, generating 338,202 GWh, which represented 54.6% of the bloc’s total nuclear output. Spain followed with 56,873 GWh (9.2%), while Sweden and Finland contributed 48,470 GWh (7.8%) and 34,308 GWh (5.5%), respectively. Germany, which was the EU’s second-largest nuclear producer until 2021, generated 7,216 GWh in early 2023 before permanently shutting down its nuclear plants in April.
In terms of reliance on nuclear energy, France led with 65.0% of its electricity coming from nuclear power, followed closely by Slovakia at 62.0%. In contrast, nuclear power played a minimal role in Germany and the Netherlands, accounting for just 1.4% and 3.3% of their total electricity generation, respectively.