Does Greece have nuclear power?

No power station, and a zero share

Greece has no nuclear power station and no nuclear power-generating installation of any kind. Nuclear’s share of its electricity generation is zero.

Its electricity comes from other sources. How the mix has moved from lignite towards solar is told in Greece’s energy transition.

A research reactor, not a power station

The country does have one nuclear reactor: GRR-1, at the National Centre for Scientific Research "Demokritos", with a nominal power of 5 MW thermal1. It is a research reactor, which produces neutrons for research and training rather than electricity.

It is out of service, in a licensed state of extended shutdown under the Greek Atomic Energy Commission (EEAE), and the fuel irradiated in it has been returned to the United States. Its history and its planned decommissioning are in GRR-1: Greece’s research reactor.

What changed in 2026

On 30 July 2026 ministers proposed a Government Committee on Nuclear Energy.3 Cabinet Act No. 282 of 24 August 2026 established it, and the Act was published in the Government Gazette, Issue A, No. 1362, on 8 September 2026.2

The Committee acts as the body the International Atomic Energy Agency calls a Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organization (NEPIO). Within 24 months2 it must give the Cabinet a Final Report ending in a recommendation on whether or not to start a national programme. The Act does not decide to build a plant, choose a technology or name a site.2

According to the Greek outlet energypress, the Committee met for the first time on 14 October 2026.4 The official steps are tracked on Where Greece stands, and the Act is explained in what Act 28/2026 says.

Nuclear power next door

Greece’s neighbours already generate nuclear electricity. Over the twelve months of 2025, nuclear accounted for 39.6%5 of Bulgaria’s net electricity generation and 21.7%5 of Romania’s.5

Turkey is building its first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, on its Mediterranean coast. The IAEA’s PRIS database lists 4 reactors6 under construction in Turkey and none in operation6, and according to the IAEA the plant will have a gross electrical capacity of 4,800 MW(e)7 when complete.7

Greece also trades electricity with these systems: in 2024 the largest share of its electricity imports came, narrowly, from Bulgaria.8 Why that cannot be turned into a percentage of nuclear electricity in Greek homes is explained in Greece already lives next to nuclear power.

The editor works as an engineer in the nuclear sector. Views here are his own and do not represent any employer. The platform receives no funding from anyone. Not yet independently reviewed by a second engineer. The Greece section, in Greek.