Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at a Council of Ministers meeting, said the creation of the ministerial committee was of “special importance”.
Greece has historically not deployed nuclear power, but in March this year Mitsotakis announced at the 2nd Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris that it would examine the potential role of small modular reactors in its energy mix.
And last year he said Greece should be at the forefront of research and debate into using nuclear energy to decarbonise shipping.
He said the brief for the committee was not “the possible construction of nuclear power plants, but timely scientific investigation and the establishment of a defined framework so that our country does not lag behind international developments”.
He added: “That is why we know that more and more countries are turning to the solution of small modular power generation reactors. 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. This is exactly what this Inter-Ministerial Committee will do.”
Although the formation of the committee does not mean Greece will necessarily be embarking on a domestic nuclear power programme, it does reflect a change of attitude in recent years. In 2021 Mitsotakis said that because of the risk of earthquakes in the region. At that time, there were discussions with neighbouring Bulgaria about a long-term supply agreement from new nuclear capacity there.
