The global fleet of nuclear reactors continues to be a large and indispensable source of low-carbon electricity, but lifetime extensions and new reactor capacity will be needed if the world is to meet its climate change and energy security goals, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said.

The agency said newly released nuclear power data for 2023 paints a picture of a clean energy technology at a crossroads amid the emergence of a new global consensus to accelerate its deployment.

The data is in two newly released annual IAEA publications: Nuclear Power Reactors in the World (RDS-2) and Operating Experience with Nuclear Power Stations in Member States (OPEX).

Electricity production from nuclear power rose by 2.6% last year compared to 2022, according to operating data provided by IAEA member states to the Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) – the IAEA’s comprehensive and publicly available database on nuclear power.

Nuclear power continued to generate almost 10% of the world’s electricity and a quarter of all low-carbon electricity in 2023.