Chooz nuclear power plant
Chooz nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in France with 2 operating units totalling 3,120 MW gross. The site has 3 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit B-1 | PWR | N4 REP 1450 | 1,560 | 2000 | |
| Unit B-2 | PWR | N4 REP 1450 | 1,560 | 2000 | |
| Unit A | Retired | PWR | CHOOZ-A | 320 | 1967 |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Chooz nuclear power plant B-1
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | N4 1450 MWe series |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 1,560MW |
| Net capacity | 1,500MW |
| Thermal output | 4,270MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Framatome |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Construction start | 1 Jan 1984 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 25 Jul 1996 |
| Grid connection | 30 Aug 1996 |
| Commercial operation | 15 May 2000 |
Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Chooz nuclear power plant B-1
Chooz nuclear power plant B-2
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | N4 1450 MWe series |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 1,560MW |
| Net capacity | 1,500MW |
| Thermal output | 4,270MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Framatome |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Construction start | 31 Dec 1985 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 10 Mar 1997 |
| Grid connection | 10 Apr 1997 |
| Commercial operation | 29 Sep 2000 |
Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Chooz nuclear power plant B-2
Chooz nuclear power plant A Retired
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CHOOZ-A |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 320MW |
| Net capacity | 305MW |
| Thermal output | 1,040MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Societe D'Energie Nucleaire Franco-Belge Des Ardennes |
| Construction start | 1 Jan 1962 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 18 Oct 1966 |
| Grid connection | 3 Apr 1967 |
| Commercial operation | 15 Apr 1967 |
| Permanent shutdown | 30 Oct 1991 |
Chooz nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Chooz nuclear power plant is the 12th largest of 18 operating nuclear sites in France, holding 5% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 39th of 172 worldwide.
Its operating units started up in 2000; the median unit is 26.0 years old, younger than the median of 41.0 in France.
The 3 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 5.3 to 12.7 years (median 11.3) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1990s is 8.0 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Tihange nuclear power plant (60 km), Cattenom nuclear power plant (127 km) and Doel nuclear power plant (142 km).
2 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit B-1 +3.1% and Unit B-2 +3.1%.
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit A | 1962 | 1967 | 5.3 | 5.0 (1960s) |
| Unit B-1 | 1984 | 1996 | 12.7 | 8.0 (1990s) |
| Unit B-2 | 1985 | 1997 | 11.3 | 8.0 (1990s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tihange nuclear power plant | Belgium | 60 km | 1.1 |
| Cattenom nuclear power plant | France | 127 km | 5.4 |
| Doel nuclear power plant | Belgium | 142 km | 1.1 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Chooz nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | Grand-Est, France |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 50.0901, 4.7872 |
| Elevation | about 115 mabove sea level |
| Setting | About 140 km from the sea |
| Region | Western Europe |
| Units by status | Operating: 2 Retired: 1 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Electricité de France SA |
|---|---|
| Operators | Societe D'Energie Nucleaire Franco-Belge Des Ardennes Electricité de France |
Put this plant on your own page: embed a card, or compare it with another plant.
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data