Nuclear Energy Development in Eastern Europe

Abstract

The Chernobyl disaster had a significant impact on the nuclear programmes of East European countries. Substantial problems were in evidence at these plants before the accident. They had intensified in the 1980s as a result of a major programme of expansion that was quite unrealistic if measured by past and current construction rates. Chernobyl also fuelled anti-nuclear movements in some of these countries that have made the long-term nuclear energy plans even more difficult to fulfill.