Reactor technology overview and global count
BWR stands for Boiling Water Reactor. Water boils directly inside the reactor vessel and that steam drives the turbine, so there is one circuit instead of two. This makes the plant simpler, but the turbine side becomes part of the radiological circuit. Widely used in the United States and Japan. In the WhereNuc dataset there are 120 recorded BWR units across 13 countries, of which 41 are operational, 19 in suspended operation and 4 under construction. Their combined net operating capacity is about 38,389 MW. The earliest recorded BWR unit entered commercial operation in 1957, the most recent in 2006.
| Country | Units | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 45 | 38% |
| Japan | 35 | 29% |
| Germany | 11 | 9% |
| Sweden | 9 | 8% |
| Taiwan | 6 | 5% |
| Italy | 2 | 2% |
| Spain | 2 | 2% |
| Mexico | 2 | 2% |
| Switzerland | 2 | 2% |
| Finland | 2 | 2% |
| India | 2 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1% |
| Austria | 1 | 1% |
| Model | Units |
|---|---|
| BWR-5 | 20 |
| BWR-4 (Mark 1) | 17 |
| BWR-4 | 8 |
| ABWR | 8 |
| BWR-3 (Mark 1) | 6 |
| BWR-4 (Mark 2) | 5 |
| BWR-6 (Mark 3) | 5 |
| BWR-69 | 4 |
| BWR-5 (Mark 2) | 4 |
| AA-III, BWR-2500 | 4 |
| AA-II | 3 |
| BWR-3 | 3 |
| BWR-6 | 3 |
| AA-IV, BWR-3000 | 2 |
| BWR-1 | 2 |
| BWR-72 | 2 |
| BWR | 2 |
| BWR-2 (Mark 1) | 2 |