Greece should consider nuclear, PM says
Greece should be part of the discussion on nuclear energy and should be at the forefront of research and debate into using nuclear energy to decarbonise shipping, the country's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has told a summit on the regional energy transition.
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Mitsotakis made his comments to the Energy Transition Summit: East Med & Southeast Europe, organised by the Financial Times in cooperation with Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
Greece took a decision in 2019 to move away from coal, which had previously been the main source of its electricity, and has achieved that, Mitsotakis said. With more than 50% of its electricity now coming from renewables, it has ambitious targets to increase the penetration of renewables still further, as well as investing in pumped storage and batteries.
"But at the same time we need baseload power … as many countries, we have placed a strategic bet that natural gas is going to supply baseload power for the foreseeable future," he said.
But Mitsotakis made it clear that Greece - and the rest of Europe - should also consider nuclear energy as vital for decarbonisation.
"I think we should be prepared to join the 'nuclear alliance'. And this may come as a shock to some people listening to us, given that Greece is a country that has no background or experience in nuclear energy. But when I look at the overall energy developments, I see no way for the world to get to carbon neutrality without nuclear. And I see very interesting developments in nuclear technology, especially when it comes to the small modular reactors.
"And I just don't want us not to be part of this discussion. I'm not saying we're going to do anything next day, but at the least I want us to be part of the conversation and to understand where these technologies are going. And by the way, this is also a critical issue for Europe. I've been making the case repeatedly at the European Council that we need to place strategic bets in those sectors of clean tech, where we believe that Europe still has a significant comparative advantage. I think nuclear should be one of those. Again, we are not part of the value chain, but there are countries that have experience. So it seems strange to me that a country that is still heavily reliant, a continent that was heavily relying on nuclear technology, is not at the forefront of the new investment in nuclear.
"And of course we also have the fusion debate, which long term is the holy grail of research. So we need to be very present … one of the strategic bets I think that Europe should place in terms of committing significant resources would be nuclear."
Shipping strategy
Nuclear energy is also of particular interest to Greece's shipping industry, Mitsotakis said. "We have to explore whether nuclear is a viable option for shipping, for long haul shipping. As a leading maritime nation, we at least need to be at the forefront of the research and the debate. It may work, it may not work. It's going to be 10, 15 years out. But if we really want to think strategically as a maritime nation, we cannot stay away from this debate. And this, of course, is a discussion that I'm very open to have with the shipping community and to ensure that we create a common working group that is going to look at this technology at least as an option.
"Because when you look at decarbonising shipping, there is no silver bullet … there's no technology right now that seems to stand out, there are interim solutions, but we have to think 10, 15 years into the future. So I don't think we can stay away from this discussion as a country."
The conference took place in Athens on 17-18 June.
