Timeline · 1981

The world's nuclear fleet in 1981

In 1981, 268 nuclear reactors were operating in 26 countries, 151 GWe net, with 191 under construction.

Compared with 1980, the operating fleet grew by 24 reactors. 23 reactors were connected to the grid that year, 20,928 MWe, mostly in France (8), United States (4) and Japan (2). 1 unit was permanently shut down, 24 MWe. Slovenia connected its first nuclear reactor in 1981. The countries with the most operating capacity were United States (58,712 MWe), France (19,597 MWe) and Japan (14,957 MWe).

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Connected to the grid in 1981

Unit	Country	Type	Model	MWe
Blayais 1	France	PWR	CP1	910
Dampierre 3	France	PWR	CP1	890
Dampierre 4	France	PWR	CP1	890
Gravelines 4	France	PWR	CP1	910
Saint-Laurent B-1	France	PWR	CP2	915
Saint-Laurent B-2	France	PWR	CP2	915
Tricastin 3	France	PWR	CP1	915
Tricastin 4	France	PWR	CP1	915
Grafenrheinfeld	Germany	PWR	KWU	1,275
Fukushima Daini 1	Japan	BWR	BWR-5	1,067
Ikata 2	Japan	PWR	Mitsubishi (2-loop)	538
Kola 1-3	Russia	PWR	VVER V-213	411
Leningrad 1-4	Russia	LWGR	RBMK-1000	925
Krško 1	Slovenia	PWR	WH 2 loops	696
Almaraz 1	Spain	PWR	WH 3 loops	1,011
Forsmark 2	Sweden	BWR	ASEA-III, BWR-2500	1,121
Kuosheng 1	Taiwan	BWR	BWR-6	985
Chernobyl 3	Ukraine	LWGR	RBMK-1000	925
Rivne 2	Ukraine	PWR	VVER V-213	376
Joseph M Farley 2	United States	PWR	WH 3-Loop (DRY)	883
McGuire 1	United States	PWR	WH 4-Loop (ICECOND)	1,158
Salem 2	United States	PWR	WH 4-loop (DRY)	1,158
Sequoyah 2	United States	PWR	WH 4-Loop (ICECOND)	1,139

Shut down in 1981

Unit	Country	Type	Model	MWe	Grid connection
Windscale AGR	United Kingdom	GCR	AGR	24	1963

Countries by operating capacity in 1981

#	Country	Reactors	MWe	Under construction
1	United States	77	58,712	47
2	France	29	19,597	29
3	Japan	23	14,957	11
4	Germany	19	10,488	10
5	Russia	26	10,083	10
6	Sweden	9	7,350	3
7	United Kingdom	32	6,664	10
8	Canada	10	5,498	11
9	Taiwan	3	2,193	3
10	Switzerland	4	2,113	1
11	Ukraine	3	2,046	9
12	Finland	3	1,904	1
13	Belgium	4	1,862	4
14	Italy	4	1,423	—
15	Bulgaria	3	1,224	2
16	Spain	3	1,067	7
17	Slovakia	2	816	2
18	Armenia	2	792	—
19	India	4	621	4
20	South Korea	1	576	6
21	Netherlands	2	537	—
22	Argentina	1	340	2
23	Pakistan	1	90	—
24	Kazakhstan	1	52	—
25	Puerto Rico	1	18	—
26	Panama	1	10	—
27	Brazil	0	0	2
28	Czech Republic	0	0	4
29	Hungary	0	0	4
30	Iran	0	0	1
31	Lithuania	0	0	2
32	Mexico	0	0	2
33	Philippines	0	0	1
34	Slovenia	0	0	1
35	South Africa	0	0	2