Energy supply security has been a crucial energy policy issue for CEE countries at least since the natural gas supply disruptions of 2006 and 2009. This book argues that energy security plays a generally more important role within the CEE region than issues related to climate change. However, this chapter evaluates the interplay between ideas, institutions and the material nature of energy systems in the development of energy policy. In doing so it also highlights the social construction of energy security, demonstrating that energy security is not self-evident or correlated within the CEE region with dependency on energy imports from Russia. Individual CEE countries perceive energy supplies as a security issue to a different extent, identifying the source and extent of insecurity or risk differently, and supporting different policy responses as a result. While some countries, for example, Hungary or Bulgaria, have tended to perceive Russian energy as a means to guarantee energy security, others – most notably, Lithuania and Poland – consider energy security to be one of their main policy issues and imports of Russian energy as one of the main threats to this.

This chapter focuses on the specific role of social movements and NGOs in energy policy-making in the CEE region. This is structured through a series of case studies that highlight contemporary energy policy issues, specifically with relation to energy pricing, issues of equity and energy poverty, nuclear energy, shale gas and renewable energy. The chapter examines how these issues are framed, justified and legitimised, and the extent of broader societal participation and support. To provide context this chapter considers the developing role of civil society in the region, including legacies of socialism, the historical and contemporary role for societal input into general policy-making, changes in state-civil society relations and the development of NGOs and interest groups and their influence on climate and energy policy. It studies these issues in four sub-sections: energy poverty, the shale gas debate and the role of opposition on environmental grounds, nuclear energy and public participation, and local and community energy initiatives.

Chapter 1 begins with a brief sketch of the development of the domestic nuclear energy sector in South Africa (1950–1977). It illuminates how scientists were able to tap into sources of cooperation and funding to advance the nuclear energy industry during the 1960s and 1970s, following the Ploughshare Programme initiated under US President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace initiative. Part of this chapter is devoted to the cooperation between South African, French and German firms. Recently obtained primary sources show how these collaborations enabled apartheid scientists to realize their vision of erecting the nuclear infrastructure to produce enriched uranium locally, ultimately feeding their nuclear weapons. I show how internal South African opposition to subjecting its nascent nuclear infrastructure to the emerging global non-proliferation regime manifested itself during that period, with repercussions for the coming decades.

Industrialization could not have happened without abundant, easy-to-store-and-transport fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). They and the technologies that mined, traded, processed and used them satisfied needs which they also created (including wars). They provided the heat, power and feedstock to run factories, operate transport systems and shape household living conditions (space heating--cooling, appliances). Energy use has exponentially risen in the last two centuries, to an average 2 kW/cap for poor and over 20 kW/cap for rich people, and supply is still dominated by fossil fuels. Modernization has become closely linked to provision of ’modern’ energy carriers (energy ladder). Apart from corporate and state super-profits and power and associated turmoil, it has brought enormous environmental destruction and harm, some of it affecting many generations to come. The most serious impact, climate change from greenhouse gas emissions, is stimulating a transition away from fossil fuels and towards efficient use and non-carbon supply (renewable, nuclear). This process is confronted with the divergence in worldviews, around issues such as risks, use of land and materials, lifestyle changes versus high-tech, role of decentral versus central supply, and private or public ownership.

A series of events fueled the protests against the shah’s regime. The burning of Cinema Rex and the Black Friday riots mobilized large swaths of the Iranian public against the king. Religious groups operated through their networks to protest the Pahlavi state. The shah’s government went through a rapid succession of prime ministers, as Ayatollah Khomeini became anointed as the leader of the opposition, which included many different political groups. The revolution came crashing in. Within months, Islamic policies reversed decades of Pahlavi secular reforms as women were forced to reveil. The regime promptly executed Pahlavi diehards and political activists who embraced different ideologies. An Islamic Republic took shape and punished America for its ties to the shah by taking US diplomats as hostages. Meanwhile, Iraq seized on this moment of domestic turmoil to launch a devastating war against Iran. That island of stability became a harbor of volatility.

While China is building nuclear reactors faster than any other country in the world, major constraints may limit nuclear energy’s ability to grow to the scale of hundreds of gigawatts that would be required for it to play a major part in decarbonizing China’s energy system. This chapter explores the major constraints on, and risks of, large-scale nuclear energy growth in China, and how both new policies and new technologies might address them. It focuses particularly on the two biggest constraints – economics and siting. Substantial government policies to support nuclear power and advanced reactor systems designed to address some of the key constraints are both likely to be needed for nuclear to have a chance of playing a major role in decarbonizing China’s energy system; nuclear energy’s role may be bigger in the second half of this century than in the first half.

For the last six decades, the NPT, as it is commonly known, has been the legal cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. The rationale for the treaty, its main provisions, and the challenges it has been meeting over the last 25 years in particular are discussed.

Nuclear power is a proven low greenhouse emission technology for electricity production that directly substitutes for fossil fuels. The current status of nuclear power worldwide is reviewed. Nuclear technology is described, beginning with an overview of the nuclear fuel cycle and the basic science of fission and energy production. The technology of nuclear fuel production, including enrichment, is outlined. Reactor technology alternatives are discussed in terms of both the current world fleet of reactor types and the future Generation IV technology to be deployed beyond 2030. The current status of small modular reactors (SMRs) under development is reviewed. SMRs are suitable for small countries or remote sites and have smaller up-front construction costs. The thorium cycle is seen as a potential technology for deployment towards the end of the century. Strategies for nuclear waste management and reactor decommissioning are described. Government, legal, regulatory and managerial support is needed to comply with internationally accepted safety standards, security guidelines and safeguards requirements. An independent nuclear regulatory organisation is essential.

This chapter provocatively argues that there is no such thing as sustainable energy. The black and white dichotomy of unsustainable versus sustainable leaves out important "colors" that reflect the complexity of the energy discussion. By reviewing the rapid developments in biofuel – which is supposedly sustainable – and the ensuing food crisis in the beginning of the century, it shows that sustainability is about much more than renewability. Sustainability is presented as a moral framework that comprises several underlying values, including safety, security, environmental benevolence, resource durability, and economic affordability. These values are presented in relation to different production methods for nuclear energy, creating an ethically nuanced picture of this energy technology. The chapter further addresses energy ethics. While sustainability and energy ethics have a great deal in common, energy ethics can provide us with a more fine-grained analysis of the broader ethical issues associated with energy, including questions of human rights, risk acceptability, and justice.

This chapter first illustrates the fundamental characteristics of nuclear energy, by outlining: (i) The history of nuclear energy; (ii) The current key technological aspects of nuclear energy; (iii) The key global trends in nuclear energy production; (iv) The prospects for its future potential use. It then outlines the security and geopolitical risks related to nuclear energy, also with a focus on the cases of Iran and North Korea.

This chapter introduces the reader to the main global energy issues. It starts by illustrating the fundamental role of energy in modern societies, and it continues by outlying the key energy challenges facing the globe as a result of rising demand for energy. Among these, particular attention is devoted to climate change, energy access in developing countries and energy security.