Balakovo NPP is a 4,000 MW nuclear power station in Saratov, Russia. It is operated by JSC "Concern Rosenergoatom". Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 9.0 million homes (estimated). It ranks #13 of 678 Russia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1986, it is around 40 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 18.3% of Russia's electricity; the national grid averages 450 gCO₂/kWh (35.7% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023915.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000500089); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 4,000 MW, Balakovo NPP is well above the median nuclear plant in Russia (2,400 MW). Technically it is described as pressurized water reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by JSC "Concern Rosenergoatom".
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 52.1°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
The #8 largest nuclear power plant of 28 in Russia by capacity.
Russia has 28 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 68,383 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 52.0928, 47.9539 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Balakovo NPP is a 4,000 MW source-record nuclear power plant in Saratov, Russia, commissioned in 1986.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 9,010,285 homes (estimated).
Balakovo NPP is operated by JSC "Concern Rosenergoatom".
