A Transition: The Nuclear Energy Sector in Central and Eastern Europe

The Central and Eastern European region is characterized by a dominant position of nuclear energy in the electricity mix. Energy policy, and especially nuclear energy policy in those countries has historically been put in a veil of secrecy, technocratization and even nationalistic sentiments. In my paper I will examine the transition of the nuclear energy sector in the years after the fall of communism in two CEE countries: Bulgaria and Slovakia. EU accession conditionality has been at the core of disrupting the nuclear energy path dependency in both of those states as they were forced to close a significant part of their nuclear power capacities. However, the two countries’ nuclear sectors developed very differently after the shutdowns. I will argue that a range of different energy sector liberalization measures and different societal attitudes towards the economic rationale of nuclear power expansion are at the core of this divergence.