CHERNOBYL: MORE FALLOUT IN EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87R00529R000100070033-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 2011
• Sequence Number: 33
• Publication Date: August 19, 1986
• Content Type: MISC

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/17: CIA-RDP87R00529R000100070033-1
NIO/EUR
19 August 1986
CHERNOBYL: MORE FALLOUT IN EASTERN EUROPE
The political fallout from the Chernobyl disaster continues to
accumulate in Eastern Europe. Initial concerns over public safety and crop
damage have given way to a rethinking of East European nuclear development
strategies. Additionally, Chernobyl's fallout has persuaded some East
European regimes to seek Western assistance on nuclear safety matters.
-- Five American firms are exploring with the Commerce Department
the possibility of approaching East European governments to
discuss nuclear safety cooperation. These overtures mark the
initiative by US companies toward nuclear cooperation with
Eastern Europe.
-- In Czechoslovakia, growing public concern has evidently prompted
the regime to delay construction work at one nuclear power plant
and mount a media campaign designed to reassure a skeptical
public about the safety of existing or planned nuclear power
facilities.
-- The Hungarians recently presented the Italian government with a
draft protocol for an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation.
Like a joint Italian-Yugoslav accord in effect since 1978, this
agreement would include bilateral discussions on nuclear safety
and environmental protection.
-- The East German government, having already sought West German
advice on nuclear safety matters, has reportedly approached a
Finnish firm that specializes in modifying Soviet reactors with
Western safety technology.
There are no easy answers for Eastern Europe, a region already beset
with chronic energy shortages. Extraction of coal and other indigenous
energy sources is already at the maximum, and hard currency shortfalls
prevent purchase of above-plan oil and gas needs on the world market. Thus
the urgency of the energy dilemma virtually compels the East Europeans to
persist with their nuclear development strategies.
By accentuating nuclear concerns in the region, the Chernobyl disaster
has probably ruled out the ambitious timetables many of the East European
regimes set for themselves. Moreover, it has made the East Europeans more
ready to engage in international discussions on nuclear safety. To gain
access to new safety technology and equipment, they may also become more
amenable to international controls and inspection.
-- For us, these trends pose certain risks of nuclear technology
transfer and information leakage -- but they also unique new
opportunities for new forms of US and West European involvement
in East European nuclear energy development, as well as for
encouraging greater East European independence from Moscow.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/17: CIA-RDP87R00529R000100070033-1