Greece and nuclear power: the briefing

Does Greece have nuclear power?

No. Greece has no nuclear power plant and has not decided to build one. Its only reactor, the GRR-1 research reactor at NCSR "Demokritos", has been in extended shutdown since 2014 under an EEAE licence which, according to the 2022 national report, ran to October 2024. In 2026 the government set up a Government Committee on Nuclear Energy by Cabinet Act 28/20261 to examine whether, and how, a programme could go ahead.

The Committee recommends; the Cabinet decides. A recommendation not to proceed is explicitly within its mandate.

The deadline

The Committee has 24 months1 from its establishment to deliver a Final Report to the Cabinet: an analysis of institutional gaps against the IAEA’s 19 issues2, pre-feasibility studies, a roadmap, and a recommendation on whether or not to proceed. It meets regularly every 2 months1.

The Act gives the Committee the role the IAEA calls a NEPIO, the body that coordinates a country’s preparation in the first of the IAEA’s 3 phases22.

The electricity system today

In 1990 lignite and coal supplied 71.9 %3 of Greece’s gross electricity generation; in 2024, 5.6 %3. The revised National Energy and Climate Plan provides for the withdrawal of all lignite units by 20284.

In 2025, net generation came from natural gas (44.5 %5), wind (20.2 %5), solar (17.1 %5) and hydro (7.6 %5), with lignite at 5.3 %5. Greece exported 6.4 TWh6 of electricity and imported 3.4 TWh6.

The National Energy and Climate Plan aims for renewables to cover 75.7 %4 of gross electricity consumption in 2030. The open question is what covers the hours without sun and wind, which today is mostly imported gas.

What has not been decided

No technology, reactor size, site, budget or financing model has been chosen. Cabinet Act 28/2026 mentions conventional reactors and small modular reactors only as options to study, and names no site1. This site does not suggest or rank locations.

The Greek Atomic Energy Commission (EEAE), a public-law legal entity with full administrative and financial autonomy, is the competent regulatory authority for nuclear safety and radiation protection (Law 4310/2014); today its work covers medical and industrial uses and the research reactor7. What Greece lacks for a power programme is licensing rules for power plants and the capacity to apply them, which would need a different scale and a different kind of technical competence.

Who’s who

How to follow

The tracker of official steps and the IAEA issues is at nuclear.gr/en/where-greece-stands. A signed monthly note summarises what changed. For questions, corrections or a conversation about Greece’s process, write to the editor through the contact form.

Where Greece stands Contact the editor