The framework that will be called upon to assess whether nuclear energy has a place or not in the national energy mix is taking shape, with Greece taking one more step, in case the answer is positive, toward entering the club of countries with this specific technology.
Following the approval received by the plan in July from the cabinet, the body that will undertake to run the project is expected to be established within the next few weeks, will work on two levels, and the estimated goal is that within 12 to 18 months the relevant Assessment Report will have been drafted.
At the top will be the Interministerial Committee chaired by Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Nikos Tsafos (photo) and members from a range of ministries (e.g. Foreign Affairs, National Defence, Development, Climate Crisis & Civil Protection, Health, etc.), and the second level will concern a specialized technical team, which will undertake the studies and the substantive preparation of the project.
In practice, this technical team, with the assistance of bodies and institutes (e.g. Demokritos), will be called upon to answer the most critical questions, such as what will happen to nuclear waste, how a reactor will be built in an earthquake-prone country, and what its potential location will be, as well as how the supply chain will be set up, but also issues concerning the institutional framework, as well as the personnel required to staff the Regulatory Authority.
At the same time it will be called upon to assess the many proposed technologies both from countries and from the many companies interested in making their nuclear technology available in Greece and that have from time to time approached the Greek government (US, France, etc.), and so on.
The result of all this work will be called upon to be evaluated and approved by the competent Interministerial Committee, after of course first taking into account whatever social acceptance there may be, without which any plans will never move forward. A characteristic example is Taiwan, which did indeed build a nuclear plant that nevertheless never operated, due to social reactions.
In this context, it remains to be seen to what extent the public dialogue in Greece on the issue of nuclear energy will intensify in the coming months or whether, because elections will be approaching, the discussion will be postponed indefinitely, so that the government may avoid whatever political cost the reopening of the issue entails.
In the next period as well, the Ministry of Environment and Energy will have to begin a cycle of briefings on nuclear energy in the other ministries too.
To the question of which business groups will run the implementation plan for the unit, provided that Greece indeed decides that it wants to proceed with the construction of a reactor, the answer given by competent sources is that we are still very far from that and it will concern us after 12-18 months.
What are the three phases
The establishment of the government committee and the preparation of the Assessment Report are the first and most decisive phase for any country seeking to develop a Nuclear Program, based on the NEPIO (Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organization) process of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which defines the steps required for the development of such units. In total, the phases are three.
- “Phase 1”, the one Greece is in today: The state must assess whether nuclear energy has a place in the national energy balance and the Assessment Report must include answers to all the above questions.
- “Phase 2”: If the assessment is positive, then the country moves to the next stage, in which it carries out the preparatory work to prepare for the construction of a reactor. In addition to the announcement of an international tender and the initiatives of the market itself, that is, finding the location within the framework that the state will have set earlier, establishing the supply chain and of course preparing the licensing and construction file, it also includes the actions that the state itself must take (institutional framework and staffing of the regulatory body).
- “Phase 3”: Construction of the unit begins, it enters into operation and its management by the country's electrical system begins.
From the above, but also based on international experience, it becomes clear that from the decision of a country that it wants to acquire a nuclear reactor until its construction, around 10-15 years intervene.
In the ideal scenario therefore where the competent Interministerial Committee rules that the necessary social acceptance exists in Greece, whatever Greek government after 12-18 months takes the relevant political decision, and provided that the procedures are followed to the letter and the state mechanism rises to the challenge, the completion of construction and the start of operation of such a unit is placed somewhere around 2040.