Russian Energy Policy–Twenty Years after Chernobyl

Abstract

The Chernobyl accident had a contradictory effect on Russian energy policy. On one hand, huge economic losses due to the necessity to compensate people and to carry out the clean up, turned the Russian government towards safer ways to produce energy and the effectiveness of its use. On the other hand, the Chernobyl accident gave an impetus to political and economic reforms and the introduction of a market economy. An abundance of natural resources such as oil and gas, and their demand in the international market led to fast transformation of the new attitudes towards energy policy in the first years after the Chernobyl accident, to business as usual. The Russian economy became dependent on oil prices and oil and gas sales. The new energy policy is focused on an increase in nuclear power capacity rather than on energy efficiency. But expensive construction of new nuclear power plants requires substantial government support.