The ten nuclear power plants with the most net electrical capacity in operational reactors, from Hongyanhe in China (6,366 MWe) to Barakah in the UAE (5,348 MWe), per the IAEA's PRIS database as read on 19 October 2026.
Hongyanhe in China is the largest operating nuclear power plant, with 6,366 MWe net from six reactors, followed by Tianwan (6,240 MWe) and Qinshan (6,196 MWe), both also in China. The ranking sums the net capacity of each site's reactors that the IAEA's PRIS database lists as Operational, as read on 19 October 2026.
Five of the ten largest nuclear power plants in operation are in China, two are in South Korea, and one each is in Ukraine, France and the United Arab Emirates. Each plant here is a site as the International Atomic Energy Agency's Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) defines it, and its size is the total net electrical capacity of the reactors PRIS lists at that site as Operational. The list leaves out reactors PRIS classes as Suspended Operation. That matters most for Japan: Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has 7,965 MWe net across seven units, more than any site ranked here, but PRIS lists all seven as Suspended Operation, so it does not appear in this ranking.
Hongyanhe in China has six operational units of 1,061 MWe net each, 6,366 MWe in total, the most net capacity PRIS records at any single site in operational status. Four are CPR-1000 units and two are ACPR-1000 units; the first was connected to the grid in February 2013 and the sixth in May 2022.
Tianwan in China has six operational units totalling 6,240 MWe net: two VVER V-428 units of 1,000 MWe, two VVER V-428M units and two CNP-1000 units of 1,060 MWe each. PRIS also lists Tianwan-7 and Tianwan-8 (VVER-1200, 1,171 MWe each) as under construction; they are not counted here.
PRIS groups nine operational units under the Qinshan site, totalling 6,196 MWe net: Qinshan-1 (326 MWe), the four Qinshan Phase II units (623 MWe each), the two Qinshan Phase III CANDU 6 heavy-water units (677 MWe each) and Fangjiashan-1 and -2 (1,012 MWe each). It is the only site in this top 10 with two reactor types, and its oldest operational unit, Qinshan-1, was connected to the grid in December 1991.
Fuqing in China has six operational units totalling 6,150 MWe net: four CNP-1000 units of 1,000 MWe each and two HPR1000 units of 1,075 MWe each. The first unit was connected to the grid in August 2014 and Fuqing-6 on 1 January 2022.
Yangjiang in China has six operational units of 1,000 MWe net each, 6,000 MWe in total: four CPR-1000 units and two ACPR-1000 units. All six were connected to the grid between December 2013 and June 2019.
Hanul in South Korea has six operational units totalling 5,871 MWe net: two French CPI-design units and four OPR-1000 units. PRIS lists the two APR-1400 Shin-Hanul units as a separate site (Shin-Hanul, 2,845 MWe net), so they are not included in this figure.
Hanbit in South Korea has six operational units totalling 5,813 MWe net: two Westinghouse F-type units connected in 1986 and four OPR-1000 units connected between 1994 and 2002.
Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine has six VVER V-320 units of 950 MWe net each, 5,700 MWe in total, the largest site outside East Asia on this list. PRIS records all six units with the status Operational; that is a PRIS status category, not a statement that the units are currently generating.
Gravelines in France has six CP1 units of 910 MWe net each, 5,460 MWe in total, the largest French site by this measure. Its units were connected to the grid between March 1980 and August 1985.
Barakah in the United Arab Emirates has four APR-1400 units of 1,337 MWe net each, 5,348 MWe in total. It reaches the top 10 with only four units because each is larger than any unit at the sites ranked above it. Barakah-4 was connected to the grid in March 2024.
| # | Name | Country | Operational units | Reactor type | Models (PRIS) | Operator (PRIS) | First grid connection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hongyanhe | China | 6 | PWR | CPR-1000 (4), ACPR-1000 (2) | Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. | 2013-02-17 |
| 2 | Tianwan | China | 6 | PWR | VVER V-428 (2), VVER V-428M (2), CNP-1000 (2) | Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation | 2006-05-12 |
| 3 | Qinshan (including Fangjiashan) | China | 9 | PWR, PHWR | CNP-300 (1), CNP-600 (4), CANDU 6 (2), CPR-1000 (2) | CNNC Nuclear Operation Management Company Limited | 1991-12-15 |
| 4 | Fuqing | China | 6 | PWR | CNP-1000 (4), HPR1000 (2) | CNNC Fujian Fuqing Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. | 2014-08-20 |
| 5 | Yangjiang | China | 6 | PWR | CPR-1000 (4), ACPR-1000 (2) | Yangjiang Nuclear Power Company | 2013-12-31 |
| 6 | Hanul | South Korea | 6 | PWR | France CPI (2), OPR-1000 (4) | Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. | 1988-04-07 |
| 7 | Hanbit | South Korea | 6 | PWR | WH F (2), OPR-1000 (4) | Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. | 1986-03-05 |
| 8 | Zaporizhzhia | Ukraine | 6 | PWR | VVER V-320 (6) | Energoatom | 1984-12-10 |
| 9 | Gravelines | France | 6 | PWR | CP1 (6) | Électricité de France | 1980-03-13 |
| 10 | Barakah | United Arab Emirates | 4 | PWR | APR-1400 (4) | Nawah Energy Company | 2020-08-19 |
Source: IAEA Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), read on 19 October 2026 from the PRIS country reactor lists at pris-stats.iaea.org (PRIS does not print an as-of date on these pages). A plant is every reactor unit PRIS assigns to one site name; we do not merge sites that PRIS lists separately (for example Hanul and Shin-Hanul, Kori, Shin-Kori I and Saeul, or Bruce A and Bruce B). Capacity is the sum of each unit's net electrical capacity in MWe as given by PRIS; gross capacity is not used. Only units with PRIS status Operational are counted. Units with status Suspended Operation, Under Construction, Permanent Shutdown or Decommissioning Completed are excluded, applied the same way to every site. The 417 Operational units in the download total 379,611 MWe net, which matches the In Operation total on the PRIS world statistics page. There are no ties in the top 10; Paluel in France (5,320 MWe, four units) is 11th.
Counting only reactors that PRIS lists as Operational, it is Hongyanhe in China, with 6,366 MWe net across six units. If reactors in Suspended Operation are counted too, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Japan comes first with 7,965 MWe net across seven units, all of which PRIS lists as Suspended Operation.
PRIS lists all seven Kashiwazaki-Kariwa units with the status Suspended Operation, and this ranking counts only Operational units. Under the alternative rule of counting Operational plus Suspended Operation units, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa (7,965 MWe) would rank first and Barakah (5,348 MWe) would drop out of the top 10; the other nine plants would keep their order. PRIS lists 21 units in Suspended Operation worldwide, in Japan and India.
PRIS splits these complexes into separate sites, and this list follows PRIS. Kori (2,637 MWe operational), Shin-Kori I (1,968 MWe) and Saeul (2,784 MWe) are three PRIS sites; Bruce A (3,210 MWe) and Bruce B (3,268 MWe) are two; Hanul (5,871 MWe) and Shin-Hanul (2,845 MWe) are two. Added together, Hanul and Shin-Hanul would total 8,716 MWe, Kori, Shin-Kori I and Saeul 7,389 MWe, and Bruce A and B 6,478 MWe, which would change the ranking.
PRIS measures gross electrical power at the output terminals of the turbine generator. Net capacity is measured at the unit outlet terminals, after deducting the power taken by the unit's own auxiliaries and transformer losses. PRIS reports both for each reactor; this list uses net capacity only, so every figure here is comparable.
No. In PRIS a reactor counts as Operational from its first grid connection until permanent shutdown, and it stays in that category while temporarily not generating because of refuelling, maintenance, repair, refurbishment or a political decision. Only units declared in long-term shutdown, which PRIS lists as Suspended Operation, are taken out of the Operational category. This list reports installed net capacity, not current output.
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