Every Nuclear Reactor on Earth, Mapped (1954–2026)

From the world's first kilowatt at Obninsk in 1954 to UAE's Barakah complex in 2024 — every nuclear reactor on Earth, mapped country by country. Watch 277 plants light up across 40 nations as humanity builds nearly half a terawatt of atomic power. This is the complete civilian nuclear footprint: 497 GW of installed capacity across seven decades. The United States dominates with 82 reactors, followed by France (23), Japan (19), and Russia (17). Five infamous disasters punctuate the timeline — Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima — each marking a turning point in how nations think about the atom. Key moments: 1954 — Obninsk, USSR: world's first grid-connected reactor (5 MW) 1957 — Kyshtym & Windscale: two early INES-5 disasters in the same month 1979 — Three Mile Island: partial meltdown freezes US nuclear expansion 1986 — Chernobyl: the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history 2007 — Kashiwazaki-Kariwa: the world's largest plant, shut down by an earthquake 2011 — Fukushima Daiichi: tsunami triggers global retreat from nuclear 2018 — Akademik Lomonosov: Russia launches the world's only floating reactor 2023 — Vogtle Units 3 & 4: first new US reactors of the 21st century 2024 — Barakah: the Arab world's first nuclear power plant goes online 2026 — China overtakes France with 21+ reactors and counting Data sources: IAEA PRIS database, World Nuclear Association #NuclearPower #Chernobyl #Fukushima #DataViz #NuclearEnergy #StatsAtlas #MappedHistory #Reactors