Regulatory readiness for SMRs in Greece: An institutional gap analysis of a latent EU newcomer

Greece has begun to examine small modular reactors (SMRs) without holding any of the institutions of a declared nuclear program, which raises the question of whether it is a latent European Union (EU) newcomer rather than a conventional one. The 19 infrastructure issues of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Milestones framework are applied as a qualitative gap-analysis matrix, read through Euratom obligations, WENRA expectations, and comparator evidence from Poland, Estonia, and the United Arab Emirates, with issue-specific decision rules and named evidence anchors reported for every rating. Greece meets 4 issues, partially meets 8, and does not meet 7, so it is neither institutionally blank nor program-ready. EU-derived radiation protection, safeguards, and environmental permitting coexist with the absence of program ownership, a commercial nuclear framework act, financing architecture, and backend policy. Apparent readiness is therefore conditional rather than substantive, and the latent EU newcomer is proposed as an analytical category that separates inherited compliance from program-specific governance. The 12 to 15 year roadmap derived from the diagnosis is an institutional sequencing estimate, not a deployment forecast. Findings reflect Greek readiness as of mid-2026, including observer participation in the Nuclear Alliance meeting of 26 June 2026.