The Children of Chernobyl

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and the end of the Cold War led to a campaign by the United States and Western Europe to improve the safety of Soviet-designed reactors in the former communist bloc and to close older reactor models that could not be raised to Western safety standards. This article explores how the engineers who collaborated across the former Cold-War divide dealt with reactor safety questions and how their solutions influenced international safety frameworks and national regulatory structures. In particular, it examines the reciprocal influences on Eastern and Western nations that emerged from safety debates among nuclear experts. Engineers in the former Soviet bloc gained critical Western safety knowledge and safety assessment tools. They became more technically capable of ensuring plant safety and protecting national interests. Western experts and their system of safety also changed. Work on exotic Soviet reactors forced them to define clearly their common standards and safety values, and they articulated them in international safety conventions and in guidelines developed by international safety organizations. Chernobyl and the end of the Cold War, then, led to the formation of a global community of experts promoting a common notion of reactor safety and professional values. Keywords: nuclear energynuclear engineerEuropean integrationinternational cooperationrisktechnopolitics Notes 1. The oldest Soviet commercial PWR model, the VVER-440/230, and the Chernobyl RBMKs continued to operate outside of CEE in nations of the former Soviet Union, such as Russia, the Ukraine, and Armenia. 2. 'Germans and Austrians Protest,' CzechPosition.com. 3. World Nuclear Association, 'Nuclear Power in Russia,' http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html (updated September Citation2012). 4. Primatarova, 'Closure of Units 1–4,' 120–21; Ivanov, 'Legitimate Conditionality?' 150, 162; Van Oudenaren, 'Limits of Conditionality,' 470; Axelrod, 'Nuclear Power,' 153, 162–63; Maniokas and Staniouis, 'Negotiations on Decommissioning Ignalina,' 297–349; and Dranseikaite, 'Closure of the Ignalina,' 200, 214–17. This emphasis on non-technical over technical factors is similar to studies of European integration and general technology politics by political scientists and historians of technology and policy. Gillingham, European Integration; O'Brennan, Eastern Enlargement; Wiener and Diez, European Integration Theory; Shore, Building Europe. 5. Networks of experts had similar influence in other areas of European technology policy. See Schot and Schipper, 'Experts and European Transport,' 277. 6. This is not to suggest that engineers could alter their political environment simply by their knowledge claims, but they did alter their environment so that internationally accepted engineering standards mattered. See a similar point made in Barth, 'Catalysts for Change,' 185. 7. Eric van der Vleuten warns of the risk of internalist narratives in writing transnational histories of technology. His caution that historians seek context is valuable, but current histories risk telling stories of technological development as if they derive from context alone and the important engineering choices made stem only from political struggle. Van der Vleuten, 'Towards a Transnational History,' 993. 8. Peter Lyth and Helmuth Trischler pose the question: 'Is it the nature of globalizing technology to be so inherently Western that the technology cannot be acquired without the culture.' For Western nuclear engineers involved in the CEE effort, the answer was a resounding, 'yes.' See Lyth and Trischler, Wiring Prometheus, 14. 9. This tended to be true of Soviet reactors that were most similar to Western designs, particularly their PWR class, the VVERs. PSAs were less useful for the Chernobyl-type RBMK models that had no commercial and comparative counterpart in the West. 10. Grabbe, 'Europeanization Goes East'; Carmin and Van Deveer, 'Enlarging EU Environments,' 16; Caddy, 'Harmonisation and Asymmetry,' 318–36. For a critique of this interpretation, see Jehlicka and Tickle, 'Environmental Implications,' 77–95. 11. Misa and Schot, 'Inventing Europe,' 1–19; and Van der Vleuten, 'Towards a Transnational History,' 974–94. 12. Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics of the Cold War, 4; Hecht and Allen, 'Introduction: Authority,' 13, 19–20; Krankis, 'Patents and Power,' 690–91. 13. Hecht, Radiance of France, 14–17, 338; Alder, Engineering the Revolution, 349; Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics and the Cold War, 5; and Gillispie and Alder, 'Engineering the Revolution,' 747–48. The concept of co-production as used among secience, technology and society (STS) scholars has been best articulated in Jasanoff, States of Knowledge, 1–45. 14. Mack, Viewing the Earth, 3, 8–9; Gillispie and Alder, 'Engineering the Revolution,' 743, 746. 15. Gillispie and Alder, 'Engineering the Revolution,' 747–48; and Alder, Engineering the Revolution, 334. 16. Van der Vlueten, 'Towards a Transnational History,' 974–94; Van der Vlueten et al., 'Europe's System Builders,' 321–47; Leucht, 'Expertise and the Creation,' 20. On technocratic internationalism, see Schot and Lagendijk, 'Technocratic Internationalism,' 196–217; Schot and Schipper, 'Experts and European Transport,' 287; and van Meer, 'The Transatlantic Pursuit,' 121. 17. Schot and Schipper, 'Experts and European Transport,' 288; Fouilleux, de Maillard, and Smith, 'Technical or Political?' 609–12; and Patel and Schot, 'Twisted Paths,' 383–403. 18. Schmid, 'Nuclear Colonization?' 125, 144–45 and 154; Hecht, Radiance of France, 271–324, 334; and Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics of the Cold War, 27–28. An effective example of how Hecht's technopolitics can incorporate the limitations of technology and technical knowledge is Conway, High-Speed Dreams. 19. Alder, Engineering the Revolution, 293–94; and Hecht and Allen, 'Introduction: Authority,' 19–20. 20. Iriye, Global Community, 6–8, 94, and 160; and Clavin, 'Defining Transnationalism,' 429–31. 21. For an overview of the nuclear debate over the 'how safe is safe enough?' question, see Morone and Woodhouse, Averting Catastrophe. 22. Krige, 'Peaceful Atom,' 5–44; Howlett, EURATOM and Nuclear Safeguards; Trischler and Weinberger, 'Engineering Europe,' 49–93; McCray, '"Globalization with Hardware",' 283–312; Arnold, 'Europe, Technology, and Colonialism,' 85–106; Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe; and Krige, Russo, and Sebesta, 'A Brief History,' 441. 23. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Atomic Energy Agency: Personal Reflections, 263; and ''Council Resolution of 22 July Citation1975,' 1. 24. European Commission, Nuclear Safety and the Environment, 4–8; Iansiti and Konstantinov, 'Nuclear Safety Standards,' 46–55; Lederman, interview. 25. 'An Overview of the Nuclear Safety Standards,' 13-17; and 'Safety Principles Underlying the NUSS Documents,' 51–53. 26. Adede, IAEA Notification, xxi–xxii. The IAEA produced guidelines for bilateral treaties on reporting accidents and emergency assistance. IAEA, Guidelines on Reportable Events; and IAEA, Guidelines for Mutual. 27. IAEA, International Nuclear Events. 28. Ryan, 'Regulators Told to Increase,' 3; IAEA, Personal Reflections, 174. 29. International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG), INSAG-5. The creation of INSAG indicated that the reliance noted by Sheila Jasanoff of US federal agencies on expert advisory panels to solve policy issues existed in international organizations as well. See Jasanoff, Fifth Branch, 1–19. 30. C.R. Stoiber to The Chairman, Commissioner Rogers, Commissioner Remick, and Commissioner de Planque, September 14, 1993, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Adams Computer Records System, ML 051770232. 31. C.R. Stoiber to The Chairman, Commissioner Rogers, Commissioner Remick, and Commissioner de Planque, September 14, 1993, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Adams Computer Records System, ML 051770232. 32. Tanguy, 'The French Approach,' 592. 33. In the USA, PSAs are called Probabilistic Risk Assessments (PRAs). The international term, PSA, is being used here. 34. Stellfox, 'IPE Round-up,' 3; Niehaus, 'Use of Probabilistic,' 155–56. 35. MacLachlan, 'French Rethinking Safety,' 7; MacLachlan, 'Approaches to Safety in EC,' 8; Commission of the European Communities, Summary Report; and European Commission, 30 Years of NRWG, 19. France's utility, EDF, had skepticism of PSAs well before Chernobyl. See Glucroft, 'French See PRA Useful,' 10. 36. IAEA, The Chernobyl Accident; Hibbs and MacLachlan, 'East Germans Looking West,' 11; and Henderson, interview. 37. 'East German Plan Foresees Western Help,' 1. 38. Gesellschaft für Reaktorsicherheit (GRS), First Interim Report, 3, 15, 36; GRS, Safety Assessment, 239–67; IAEA, Safety of Nuclear Power Plants; IAEA, Safety of WWER-440, 23–39; 'GDR Wants to End Decade,' 10; Hibbs, 'Greifswald Restart Not Likely,' 11; 'Evolution in Europe,' New York Times; Daily Record, 1; Hibbs, 'German VVERs to be Closed,' 1; Teske, interview; and Teske, 'As Greifswald Tension Mounts,' 7. 39. Groudev, Horak, and Teske, interviews; IAEA, Kozloduy Safety Review Mission, 1–5. 40. Nuclear Energy Institute, 'Significant Events.' 41. On the creation of INPO and its goals, see Rees, Hostages of Each Other. Nuclear safety culture has been studied to understand effective strategies in risk avoidance. See, La Porte and Thomas, 'Regulatory Compliance.' Nuclear organizations put in a great deal of effort to define what constitutes an effective safety culture for organizations. See IAEA, Safety Culture in Nuclear Installations, 1–21; and USNRC, Safety Culture Policy Statement. 42. Ramsey interviews and email to author, March 7, 2013. 43. 'International Safety Review,' 24–31; 'Preventing Chernobyl II'; 'Chairman Selin Travels,' 15; Franklin, 'Selin's East European "Snapshot",' 12; 'West Urges Bulgarians'; Ryan, 'WANO Says,' 1; 'Evolution in Europe;' Hibbs and Seneviratne, 'Western Governments Differ,' 1; Hibbs, 'East Europe's Nuclear Share,' 8; Yanev, interview; and 'E. Europe Nuclear Plants Worry,' A14. Suggestions that all Soviet-designed reactors would be shuttered lasted for several years. 'EU Wants Soviet-Style.' 44. Yanev, interview, "Chairman Selin Travels to Soviet Union." 45. IAEA, Safety of Nuclear Power Plants, 2–3, 9–11; GRS, Evaluation of Safety at Greifswald, 3; MacLachlan, 'G-7 Aid Consensus,' 1; Hibbs, 'G-7 Leaders to Okay,' 1. 46. IAEA, Final Report of the Programme, 21; MacLachlan, 'G-7 Aid Consensus,' 1; Hibbs, 'G-7 Leaders to Okay,' 1; Hibbs, 'Toepfer Says G-7 Aid,' 2; and MacLachlan, 'G-24 Nations Start,' 16. 47. Karen Henderson, interview with the author, Rockville, MD, March 20 and 26, 2012. 48. Jack Ramsey, telephone interview with author, March 26, 2012; Stellfox, 'PRA Use,' 11; Hibbs, 'Probabilistic Assessment,' 6. 49. MacLachlan, 'EC Aid to Bulgaria,' 1. 50. IAEA, Safety of WWER-440, 26; and Ryan, 'EQE Says Bulgaria's,' 3; ENCONET Consulting, Current Status of Probabilistic, 19, 22, 24–25; and Lederman, interview. 51. Teske, interview. 52. IAEA, Safety of WWER-440, 26; Ryan, 'EQE Says Bulgaria's,' 3; ENCONET Consulting, Current Status of Probabilistic, 19, 22, 24–25; and Lederman, interview. 53. Hibbs, 'Probabilistic Assessment,' 6; IAEA, Ranking of Safety Issues; IAEA, Safety of WWER-440; IAEA, INSAG-8, A Common Basis; IAEA, Procedures for Conducting Probabilistic; IAEA, Review of Probabilistic Safety; IAEA, Generic Initiating Events; and IAEA, Use of PSA; Lederman, Ramsey, and Kessler, interviews. For a list of IAEA sponsored PSA activity, see IAEA, Final Report on the Programme, 36–37. For an example of a US-supervised Russian PSA, see NRC, Severe Accident Risks for VVER Reactors: The Kalinin PRA Program. 54. Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics of the Cold War, 24. 55. MacLachlan, 'EDF Threatens to Leave,' 10. 56. MacLachlan, 'Official Says Bulgaria,' 1. 57. MacLachlan, 'First Upgraded Kozloduy Unit,' 2; Hart, 'Bulgaria Seeks Joint Ventures,' 15. 58. Ivan Selin, 'Nuclear Safety in the New Independent States and in Central and Eastern Europe, The British Nuclear Forum,' September 13, 1994, NRC Adams, ML003710697; and C.R Stoiber to I. Selin and others, September 14, 1993, NRC Adams, ML051770325; and Arcos and Ramsey, interviews. 59. Henderson, interview. 60. Topfer, 'President's Opening Address,' 9–22. See also in the same volume, Brinkhorst, 'Perspectives from the Commission,' 23–30; and Rosen, 'An International Safety Agenda,' 41–46. 61. MacLachlan, 'World Nuclear Safety,' 1. 62. Henderson, interview. Fear of Europe going it alone had compelled US participation in a technical project before. McCray, '"Globalization with Hardware",' 299. 63. Harold Denton to The Commissioners, November 13, 1991, SECY-91-365, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Adams Web Search, ML051780034; Samuel J. Chilk to Harold R. Denton, December 12, 1991, NRC, Adams ML010100074; US General Accounting Office, Nuclear Power Safety; and Hillion, 'Copenhagen Criteria.' 64. IAEA, Convention on Nuclear Safety. 65. Ivan Selin, 'Nuclear Safety in the New Independent States and in Central and Eastern Europe,' September 13, 1994, NRC Adams, ML003710697. 66. European Commission, Agenda Citation 2000 , 6,15, 39–40. 67. WENRA, General Conclusions of WENRA; Kessler, interview. 68. See note 4. 69. Schmid, 'Nuclear Colonization?' 125, 144–45, 154. 70. Schmid, 'Nuclear Colonization?' 125, 144–45, 154. Hecht and Edwards argue for a similar equivalence between Soviet and US-born reactor systems, See Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics of the Cold War, 27–28. 71. Teske, interview. 72. Henderson, interview. 73. Hibbs, 'GRS Study Will Improve VVERs,' Nucleonics Week, 10. Two model 213s were closed at Greifswald, but this was due largely to unique conditions of integrating East German plants with West German safety requirements. Based on deterministic analysis, it was clear that Greifswald's confinement buildings could not meet stringent West German criteria that they withstand an airplane impact, a standard required by few other nations. Experts concluded an upgrade might cost over US$1.1bn. Thus, 213 models elsewhere survived because they could be economically updated. 74. 'Czechs Agree.' 75. MacLachlan, 'Austria Threatens,' 1. 76. 'Eastinghouse' was coined for two Finnish reactors, hybrids of Soviet and Western design. 77. Ryan, 'NUS Audit Says,' 1; Ryan, 'Temelin Plant,' 3; and 'Verheugen Said to Back;' MacLachlan, 'Austrian Institute Says Temelin,' 8. 78. MacLachlan, 'Austria Left Empty-Handed,' 7; Axelrod, 'Nuclear Power,' 159; MacLachlan, 'Czechs, Austrians Agree,' 6; Ramsey, interview; Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association (WENRA), General Conclusions of WENRA; MacLachlan, 'SUJB, CEZ Agree,' 1; Axelrod, 'Nuclear Power,' 163. 79. Yanev, interview; MacLachlan, 'Bulgarian Regulator Stays,' 12; MacLachlan, 'Bulgarian Regulator's Job on Line,' 6; Stanic, 'Bulgarian Safety Chief Replaced,' 5. 80. Yanev, interview; MacLachlan, 'Bulgarian Parliament Refuses,' 3; MacLachlan, 'Bulgarian Regulator Stays,' 12; MacLachlan, 'Bulgarian Regulator's Job on Line,' 6; Stanic, 'Bulgarian Safety Chief Replaced,' 5; WENRA, Nuclear Safety in EU, 5, 21–31; 'Cable Regarding NRC Chairman Jackson's Meetings on Margins of IAEA General Conference,' September 23–24, 1998, USNRC Adams Database, ML033630429; Donna-Marie Perez to Janice Dunn Lee, April 25, 2001, USNRC Adams Database, ML011210137; IAEA, Report of the Expert Mission, 39; and Ramsey, interviews. It is useful to compare WENRA's negative evaluation of the Bulgarians with the more positive one of Slovakia and its Bohunice reactors. The Slovaks were praised for their safety culture, expertise, and design upgrades. They were rewarded with a closure date of 2008 for their VVER-440/230 plants. 81. Hinovski and Sabinov, 'Design Safety Improvements of Kozloduy NPP,' 28. 82. WENRA, Nuclear Safety in EU; 'Memorandum between the European Commission and the Bulgarian Government;' and 'Bulgaria Will Honor Its Commitments.' 83. Sartmadjiev, Balabanov, and Genov, 'Concept, a Technical Solution;' Tranteeva, 'Kozloduy NPP,' 213–19; IAEA, Extrabudgetary Programme on Safety Aspects; IAEA, Report of the Expert Mission, 37–39, 88–92; IAEA, Press Release: IAEA Experts Review Safety; IAEA, Annual Report Citation2002, 52; MacLachlan, 'Experts Find Kozloduy VVERs,' 12; and 'Preliminary Conclusions of the Members of the Expert Mission.' 84. MacLachlan, 'Despite Endorsing EU Standards,' 6; MacLachlan, 'Kozloduy-3/4 Face Forced Closure,' 1; IAEA, Strength Analysis of the Bubbler Condenser, 7–23; Nuclear Energy Agency, Bubbler Condenser Related Research Work, 7–9; Ramsey, Horak, Kessler, and Arcos, interviews. 85. Yanev, interview. 86. Teske, interview. 87. MacLachlan, 'Despite Endorsing EU Standards,' 6; MacLachlan, 'Kozloduy-3/4 Face Forced Closure,' 1; Arcos, interview; GRS-NRSC, Technical Note, 11–12, 15; GRS-NRSC, COCOSYS Variant Calculation; Horak, interview. 88. World Nuclear Association, 'Nuclear Power in Bulgaria;' MacLachlan, 'Kozloduy-3/4 Face Forced Closure,' 1; Ramsey and Yanev, interviews; and European Parliament, Briefing No. 40. 89. Yanev, interview. Patricia Clavin makes this point as well. See, Clavin, 'Defining Transnationalism,' 431. 90. MacLachlan, 'EU Utilities Fear,' 10. 91. Schmid, 'Nuclear Colonization?' 125–54; Hecht, 'Technology, Politics,' 287; Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics of the Cold War, 45. 92. Arcos interview. 93. Misa and Schot, 'Inventing Europe,' 6. 94. MacLachlan, 'WENRA Working,' 10; MacLachlan, 'European Regulators,' 7; Knapik, 'IAEA Meeting Raises Issues,' 13; 'European Wariness of PSA Increases,' 5; MacLachlan, 'Europeans Wish NRC Luck,' 1; MacLachlan, 'Operators Say PSAs Prove,' 1; and MacLachlan, 'Eastern Europeans Vie,' 11. 95. CEE admission to the EU complicated harmonization of nuclear safety regulation. See Berthelemy and Leveque, 'Harmonising Nuclear Safety,' 133–34. 96. Hecht and Edwards, Technopolitics of the Cold War, 12; and Hecht, Radiance of France, 338. 97. The French believed their new independent regulatory system, 'a system equivalent to that of the US,' would increase confidence in reactor safety and, by increasing transparency, would improve 'democracy' in nuclear regulation. MacLachlan, 'French Minister Sets Sights,' 12; MacLachlan, 'French Government Approves,' 12; and IAEA, Convention on Nuclear Safety. 98. Ramsey, interviews

Nuclear engineering · Political science · Politics · Soviet union · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Engineering · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense

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