Nuclear energy should be part of Greece’s energy mix as the country bids to achieve its energy and climate goals and decarbonise key industrial sectors such as the country’s major shipping industry, an Athens workshop heard.

An official said the government is monitoring the renaissance of nuclear technology and is “open to discussions” about its applications as a complement to renewable energy sources.

But Nikos Tsafos, chief energy advisor to prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, added that nuclear energy is “not an immediate priority” and said issues related to the cost and construction duration of recent nuclear programmes in the western world require “special attention” when a country decides to build its first nuclear power plants.

George Laskaris, president of the Boston, US-based non-profit organisation Deon Policy Institute, said a commercial nuclear programme is essential.