South Urals nuclear power plant — Russia

South Urals nuclear power plant is a 3,660 MW nuclear power station in Chelyabinsk, Russia. It ranks #17 of 678 Russia power plants by installed capacity. 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 GEM_nuc_southurals_russi.

Data provenance

Source of the capacity and fuel values:

capacity: GEM Global Nuclear Power Tracker September 2025 unit-status sum (cancelled); fuel: GEM GNPT

In context: how this plant compares

At 3,660 MW, South Urals nuclear power plant is well above the median nuclear plant in Russia (2,364 MW). Technically it is described as fast breeder reactor. Its current lifecycle status is “Cancelled” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. 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.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #9 largest nuclear power plant of 28 in Russia by capacity.

Russia has 28 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 60,908 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

• Mayak Production Association (Ozyorsk) · nuclear · n/a MW · Chelyabinsk Oblast
• Argayash CHP · Coal · 195 MW · Chelyabinsk
• Argayash power station · Gas · 61 MW · Chelyabinsk
• Chelyabinsk Metals power station · Gas · 110 MW · Chelyabinsk Oblast
• Chelyabinsk CHP-1 · Gas · 1,129.1 MW · Chelyabinsk
• Chelyabinsk GRES · Gas · 757 MW · Chelyabinsk

Location

Coordinates 55.7517, 60.9037 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions