The government in Athens is establishing an interministerial group responsible for scientific research and the development of a legal framework for the potential deployment of nuclear energy. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is championing small modular reactors. The country could reportedly participate in an investment round for the French EDF’s Nuward.
The initiative in Greece for considering the introduction of nuclear energy is beginning to take an institutional form. The government approved the establishment of an interministerial body to set up the stage for the process.
“More and more countries are turning to the solution of small modular reactors for generating electricity. It is a reality that we cannot ignore. We must, if nothing else, study it so that we have all the data at our disposal before reaching any decision,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the cabinet meeting. The goal is to conduct scientific research and define a framework so that Greece “does not lag behind” the developments on the international level, he explained.
Mitsotakis highlighted the potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) in a speech in March as well, when he claimed that the European Union’s shift away from nuclear energy was a strategic mistake.
Public acceptance is crucial
Energypress learned that the committee is planned to be established by autumn. It would prepare a comprehensive assessment report under the procedure of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It includes the establishment of an official nuclear energy programme implementing organization (NEPIO).
Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Nikos Tsafos is said to be seen as the coordinator and the body’s chief. Intensifying the public debate on nuclear energy would reportedly be the key factor, as the authorities have been avoiding the sensitive topic for decades.
EDF looking for investors for its SMR subsidiary Nuward
France’s state-owned energy utility Électricité de France (EDF) said it intends to find investors for its SMR business Nuward by the end of the year.
According to an earlier report, it could include future buyers of the technology. Potential investors could purportedly be countries such as Belgium, Finland, Poland, Greece and Italy.
Serbia, which already has a nuclear energy programme implementing organization, established a partnership with EDF and France’s development bank AFD
As for the rest of the region that Balkan Green Energy News covers, Serbia has already set up its NEPIO body. The Ministry of Mining and Energy has just signed a partnership agreement with French state-owned EDF and development bank AFD.
Comments (2)
James McDougall
Greece establishing a nuclear energy committee, with EDF’s Nuward flagged as a potential vehicle, deserves a harder look than the coverage has given it.
Nuward is the specific tell. EDF scrapped the original Nuward design in mid-2024, relaunched the program under new leadership in January 2025, and last week confirmed it is seeking outside investors by year-end because it does not have the balance sheet to carry a first-of-a-kind alone. Nuward’s own stated milestones: finalize conceptual design by mid-2026, market a product “for the 2030s.” Being courted as an investor at this stage means co-funding a redesign that has not left the drawing board.
The broader case:
• Timeline. No small modular reactor is operating commercially anywhere at scale. NuScale’s UAMPS project collapsed on subscription failure in November 2023. GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300 at Darlington — the global leader — targets commercial service by end of 2030. A Greek first unit is 2040+ realistically, after the country should already have completed its transition.
• Resource base. Greece has arguably the best combined solar and wind resource in the EU. Add storage, interconnection to Bulgaria, Italy, and eventually Egypt via the GREGY cable, plus the community energy layer, and there is a firm renewables path that does not require betting on a French program that keeps redesigning itself.
• Seismicity. Greece is one of the most seismically active countries in Europe. Siting, licensing, and insuring a first-of-a-kind reactor there is not a minor line item.
• Public consent. Athens has avoided the topic for decades because Greek public opinion on nuclear is historically hostile. An implementing agency by autumn does not fix that.
What this reads like from outside: positioning for a seat at the EU nuclear alliance table, plus a “seriousness” signal on baseload versus gas imports. Fine as politics. As energy strategy, it pulls capital, political oxygen, and grid planning attention away from the three things that would actually decarbonize the Greek system this decade — transmission buildout, storage procurement, and permitting reform.
srk
where can Pakistan help out?Where Pakistan does have real capability:
Operational experience with PWRs. Pakistan operates multiple Chinese-supplied pressurized water reactors (Chashma 1-4, Karachi K-2/K-3) and has decades of running both older Canadian-design (KANUPP) and newer Chinese plants. That’s genuine grid-scale nuclear operating experience, which is different from SMR-specific know-how but still relevant to workforce training, safety culture, and regulatory practice.
PAEC’s institutional depth. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has built domestic capacity in fuel fabrication, plant construction management, and regulatory oversight (via the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority) that took decades to develop — the kind of human-capital pipeline Greece would need to build almost from scratch.
IAEA-channel technical cooperation. Pakistan is an active IAEA member and periodically hosts or contributes to IAEA technical cooperation programs (training courses, safety workshops, fellowships) that other IAEA members can draw on. This is the one channel where Pakistan-Greece contact could plausibly happen without raising red flags.
