A proposal to the Prime Minister is currently being drafted regarding the entity that will be tasked with taking the first step toward Greece’s entry into the nuclear club, as announced by the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Nikos Tsafos, during a conference on this specific technology.
In essence, taking the relevant debate that has opened in Greece a step further and following the Prime Minister’s recent statements that Greece will evaluate the pros and cons of developing a small modular reactor (SMR), Mr. Tsafos explained that this body will be established before the elections so that it can begin drafting the Assessment Report, which serves as the starting point when a country seeks to establish a nuclear program.
The Deputy Minister’s remarks refer to the implementation of the first step of the NEPIO (Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organization) of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which outlines the long path a country must take to acquire nuclear power plants.
This obviously does not mean that work on the construction of Greece’s first nuclear reactor will begin tomorrow. Judging by international experience, in the ideal scenario—where a country has social acceptance, a political decision is made, procedures are followed to the letter, and the government apparatus rises to the challenge— it takes about 10–15 years for such a plant to be built and come online.
In the case of Greece, and assuming all of the above conditions are met, we are looking at the mid-2040s—a period by which SMR technology, currently in the pilot phase worldwide, will likely have matured.
At a time, however, when nuclear power is high on the European agenda and the overwhelming majority of our neighbors are already active in this field—from Italy and Bulgaria to Turkey and Egypt, all of whom have or are building nuclear plants—Mitsotakis’s recent statement that the time has come for Greece to consider developing SMRs, and what Mr. Tsafos said yesterday, suggest that something is happening.
The first step focuses on drafting the Assessment Report, a process that, as the deputy minister said, takes years and will examine everything: Both the safety and technology of small modular reactors (SMRs), as well as their economic feasibility, in order to determine whether Greece will indeed proceed with the development of such infrastructure.
A key factor the report will take into account is social acceptance, without which, of course, any plans will never move forward, with the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy citing the example of Taiwan, which built a nuclear power plant that never operated due to public opposition.
On the big question of what nuclear energy could offer Greece—a country that, with renewables in its energy mix, has the 7th lowest wholesale electricity price in the EU—opinions vary.
“The first obvious answer is the intermittency of renewables, which is one of the most difficult challenges we face. On a daily basis , we consume 100–150 megawatt-hours of electricity, while wind power generation ranges from 2 to 78 megawatt-hours per day, and solar from 2.6 to 54 megawatt-hours. Therefore, on a day when we have only 2 megawatt-hours from photovoltaics and 2 megawatt-hours from wind power, the question arises as to what we should do,” the deputy ministersaid on the sidelines of the event titled “Greece in the New Era of Nuclear Energy.”
According to the deputy minister, the basic answer to the question is batteries and pumped-storage hydroelectricity, though he also spoke of a gap that is currently filled by natural gas but that, over time, will need to be replaced by another, parallel system, so that it is ready to operate when needed. Therefore, as he said, there is a need to reduce the cost of the electricity generation mix.
“A second aspect concerns the massive shift toward nuclear energy observed internationally, resulting in significant investment and great interest. There are problems today, but judging by the interest,solutions will be found,” he added, citing as an example of progress compared to the past that, for the first time in decades, the relevant discussion has opened up within the country.
Everything, of course, will depend on the momentum at the international level—that is, on the construction of the first SMRs within the projected timelines and budgets, without cost overruns as has been the case for decades and continues to be the case even today with conventional reactors.
“To be honest, that is not the case right now, as the example of the UK shows,” the deputy minister said.
What are the 3 phases
There are three phases for a country to acquire a nuclear program.
In “Phase 1,” the phase Greece is currently in, the state must assess whether nuclear energy has a place in the national energy mix. The Assessment Report must include answers to all possible questions. From the potential construction site of the reactor, the types of proposed technologies, how the supply chain will be established, to what the institutional framework will be, what personnel are needed for research and to staff the Regulatory Authority, as well as what actions are required for the management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel. If the assessment is positive, then the country moves on to the next phase, in which it carries out the preparatory work to ultimately negotiate the construction of a reactor.
In “Phase 2,” in addition to market-driven initiatives—namely, site selection, supply chain establishment, and, of course, preparation of the licensing and construction dossier—also includes actions that the state itself must undertake (regulatory framework and staffing of the regulatory body).
In “Phase 3,” construction of the plant begins, it becomes operational, and its management by the country’s power grid commences.