SAFETY IN THE FORMER SOVIET NUCLEAR-POWER INDUSTRY

Despite significant growth within the Soviet nuclear industry in the 1 970s, the underlying ethos legislated against an effective safety cult ure. In retrospect, it seems to have been almost inevitable that some incident would occur - events at Chernobyl in 1986 merely served to co nfirm this. This incident alerted Western nuclear experts, as well as the public worldwide, to the risks ta ken in the Soviet industry. Whil e, in practical terms, Soviet and East European nuclear development sl owed considerably, it was not until the collapse of communism that the official standpoint on nuclear power changed and Western operators ga ined the opportunity to co-operate in safety work. However, the associ ated political upheaval and economic depression introduce new concerns . This article era mines the changes which have occurred in the civil nuclear industry in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe.