2024 World Nuclear Investment Factbook

This edition offers a strategic overview of the global landscape for nuclear investments, covering both government and private sector engagement across a range of technologies. The Anthropocene Institute compiled and analyzed data on nuclear startups and the distribution of funds across more than twenty key nations, accounting for market trends, national policies and the broader geopolitical climate.

Where the money is

Based on publicly available data, the United States has the highest levels of known nuclear funding at almost $20 billion, followed by France, China, Japan and the UK. China is estimated to have the highest actual nuclear spending, particularly in recent years — about $7 billion in 2022 and $11.6 billion in 2023, more than any other country — and on current trend should spend $440 billion for over 150 new reactors in the next 15 years to reach its climate goals. India has also increased sharply, its IAEA budget rising from $720 million in 2015 to $10 billion in 2022. Russia will have invested at least $6.35 billion of public funding in fast reactor technology and fusion by 2025.

By technology, hot fusion has received the most total funding at $16 billion, closely followed by water-cooled reactors at $13 billion, both dominated by US and French companies. The fusion industry is expanding quickly: 13 new startups and 18 new private-public partnerships formed between 2022 and 2023, with notable growth in Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand.

Among the 78 nuclear companies in the United States, 35 work on fusion technology and 13 are dedicated to microreactors, making the US the global leader in advanced reactor development. France and Canada each have 12 nuclear companies, the majority working on water-cooled reactors. China has 18, of which 10 work on water-cooled designs, and its nuclear energy consumption has grown faster than any other country’s — from 0.93 EJ in 2012 to 3.76 EJ in 2022.

The investment gap

Reaching net zero by 2050 will require a tripling of spending on clean energy and infrastructure by 2030, with a shift toward higher investment in developing economies. Total clean energy investment reached $1.617 trillion in 2022 and must rise to roughly $4.56 trillion a year for the net zero scenario. Nuclear’s share of that needs to reach $125 billion per year by 2030 — against the $43 billion the industry has attracted in total to date.

Nuclear energy currently provides 10% of global electricity and is the second largest source of low-carbon power. Over the last 50 years it has avoided around 70 Gt of CO₂ emissions globally, led not only by the United States and European countries but increasingly by China and India.