The article presents an overview of high temperature reactor (HTR) technology, with its advantages and disadvantages. The experience of existing HTR projects in the world, both demo versions and commercial implementations, is discussed. An analysis of the demand for electricity, heat and hydrogen that could be produced using HTR is performed. The ability of the Polish industry to engage in the production and use of high temperature reactors has been characterized. A SWOT analysis of HTR development in Poland is performed. It was implemented in accordance with the PEST methodology, which is to specify the relevance of political, economic, social and technological elements. Due to the aforementioned research, two axes of uncertainty factors can be distinguished: energy policy, conducted by the Polish government in a coherent or chaotic manner, and a macroeconomic environment, unfriendly or conducive to investment. The crossing of these factors identifies four areas that were the basis for the following development scenarios. The „Poland pioneer” scenario assumes the business environment of the legitimacy and cost-effectiveness of the investment, which with the favorable state policy results in the construction of the first HTR reactor. The “Atomic drift” scenario points to inadequate management and erroneous decisions at political levels that, despite high interest in HTR technology among utilities and consumers, continued work on this project is still postponed for the future. The „Poland without atom” scenario assumes a lack of interest among investors in connection with the passive attitude of the political environment, which leads to the abandonment of further work on the HTR technology. On the other hand, it is assumed in the „Upstream” scenario that despite the professional approach of the government in the development of HTR technology, the lack of investors and interested customers makes the project significantly delayed in time and there is no certainty that it will ever be finalized.