Asia Is Building 73% of the World's New Nuclear Capacity

The Middle East crisis and the spiking oil and gas prices have shifted the Asian nations’ priorities to energy security and generating electricity with homegrown resources.Renewable energy capacity is soaring, not only in the top emerging markets China and India, but also across Southeast Asia, as the Strait of Hormuz crisis hiked LNG prices and dented gas demand.Another clean energy source, nuclear capacity, is also gaining momentum globally. Countries worldwide started thinking about adding or building nuclear reactors for the first time in the wake of the previous energy crisis in 2022-2023.Construction will take years, but rising nuclear capacity could combine with the renewables surge to change the long-term gas and coal demand patterns in Asia’s economies.The world currently has 408 gigawatts (GW) of total operating nuclear power capacity. Another 91 GW is under construction, according to the Global Energy Monitor’s Global Nuclear Power Tracker.Of the 91 GW of nuclear capacity in the construction stage, as much as 73%, or 66 GW, are in Asia, per the data compiled by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.Asia also leads in utility solar and wind power construction, as smaller emerging markets add to powerhouses China and India in boosting their renewable energy capacities.China and India still rely on coal for a large part of their electricity supply and continue to approve and build coal-fired power plants, but they are also betting big on nuclear and renewables to meet soaring electricity demand.Globally, China, India, Japan, and South Korea are the top four countries currently building the most nuclear power capacity in the world, according to the Global Energy Monitor (GEM) data.China leads with more than 43 GW under construction, followed by India with 6.6 GW, Japan with 6.1 GW, and South Korea with 5.6 GW.China, the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S., is not picking one electricity source over another—it is building more of everything to meet rising demand. China is a global leader in coal, renewables, and nuclear power additions and planned projects as its primary goal is energy security and fewer fossil fuel imports at low prices, preferably.India has also become a renewable energy powerhouse in recent years.India has also boosted battery and other energy storage to support the rapid expansion of solar PV capacity installations, but it needs much more to ensure the curtailment rates of renewable energy are reduced.The world’s most populous country, while still betting big on coal power capacity, has huge plans in the nuclear power sector, too.India’s goal is to boost its installed nuclear power capacity to 100 GW by 2047, up from just 8.8 GW now.At the end of 2025, India’s government approved the landmark Atomic Energy Bill, which allows private companies to invest in its nuclear energy industry for the first time, as the country looks to boost nuclear power capacity tenfold within two decades.Moreover, India expects to build five small modular reactors (SMRs) domestically by 2033, India’s Atomic Energy Minister, Jitendra Singh, said earlier this year.Developed Asian economies Japan and South Korea are also betting on nuclear power additions, which is especially telling of the energy security concerns since 2022. Japan has made a U-turn in nuclear energy policy and plans to rely more on nuclear reactors for its power supply in the coming decades. The country looks to have 20% of its electricity supply coming from nuclear power by 2040, up from below 10% now.Before the Fukushima meltdown in 2011, nuclear energy accounted for about 30% of Japan’s electricity mix. The disaster prompted the closure of all reactors for safety checks, but more than a dozen have been restarted since.Neither Japan nor South Korea plans new coal-fired capacity, although they will rely more on coal this particular winter with Qatar’s LNG supply still not reaching buyers.But the nuclear power plans and renewable capacity additions in Japan and South Korea, the world’s second and third-largest LNG importers after China, could dent their respective gas demand in the longer term.By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.comGlobal Power Grid Expansion Surges 50% to Record HighGermany Eyes €4 Billion Buyout of RWE and E.ON’s Urenco StakeElectrifying Ambitions Meet Tough Reality in Europe