Nuclear, SMRs and Strategic Baseload Power
Firm low-carbon energy for Europe’s strategic industries.
Europe’s industrial power problem is moving beyond the traditional debate over electricity generation. Data centres, AI infrastructure, defence production, hydrogen, chemicals, steel and other energy-intensive sectors require large volumes of reliable, low-carbon and price-secure power. Nuclear energy sits at the centre of this question because it combines high utilisation, firm capacity and strategic resilience, but the policy debate often blurs the distinction between existing reactors, lifetime extensions, new large plants, small modular reactors, advanced modular reactors and microreactors. The strategic issue is therefore not whether nuclear is politically desirable in abstract terms, but whether it can provide the dependable power base required by Europe’s industrial and defence economy.
This report analyses nuclear power and SMRs as part of Europe’s strategic energy infrastructure. It first examines the existing nuclear fleet, lifetime extension and the role of firm baseload power in industrial autonomy. It then assesses the Euratom, safety, safeguards, waste, taxonomy and regulatory framework that governs deployment. The report subsequently reviews SMRs, AMRs and microreactors as industrial technologies, distinguishing mature pathways from speculative optionality. It concludes by assessing demand from data centres, heavy industry, hydrogen, defence production and critical infrastructure, before identifying the financing models, company positions and value-chain bottlenecks most relevant to investors, industrial actors and sovereign decision-makers.