Nuclear, SMRs and Strategic Baseload Power

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.

This analysis answers: Why is nuclear power positioned as strategic baseload for European industrial autonomy across data centres, AI, defence production and heavy industry? How do regulatory and institutional architectures shape deployment of existing reactors, lifetime extensions, large plants, SMRs, AMRs and microreactors? How do SMRs, AMRs and microreactors function as industrial technologies? What demand, finance and company dynamics drive the strategic implications?