The Nuclear Power Debate

Abstract

The Chernobyl accident compelled many countries of the world to question their nuclear power programs. In Yugoslavia, for example, which participates in many of the meetings of the CMEA countries, there have been massive protests against nuclear power (the country has one nuclear plant in operation). In 1987, the Yugoslavian Socialist Youth Federation began a campaign against nuclear power plants, while a leading sociologist in the country stated: “That Yugoslavia did not learn anything after Chernobyl is evident in the fact that it has not discontinued its nuclear program.”¹ Other European countries, such as Sweden and Austria, have also rejected nuclear power as a viable option. The Soviet reaction, however, has always been that it was man rather than the machine that was at fault in the nuclear accident, and that nuclear power remains the safest and most viable of Soviet energy options.