Hazard or survival: Politics of nuclear energy in Ukraine and Belorussia through the lens of energy democracy

Demands for global decarbonization and transition to green energy intensified debates on the benefits versus risks of nuclear energy. Regardless of the indisputable benefits of nuclear energy, the high cost of constructing a nuclear power plant, accumulating nuclear waste, and the devastating effects of nuclear disasters on population health and the environment galvanized anti-nuclear activists. The adverse outcomes also swayed many countries to pursue other sources of renewable energy. This chapter argues that nuclear energy politics can foster countries’ transition toward Energy Democracy. In particular, this chapter uses the concepts of Energy Dominance and Energy Democracy to critically examine nuclear energy politics and the opposition to it by scientists, environmentalists, and the public in Ukraine and Belorussia. These countries were most severely exposed to the dire consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in 1986. In both countries, the top-down governmental approach to energy politics discounted fears of environmental activists, scientists, and the public still reliving the horror and consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The governmental decision-making process fostered citizens’ demands for a shift from Energy Dominance to Energy Democracy. The chapter concludes that governments’ politics kindles a transition to Energy Democracy when the opposition resists nuclear and fossil-fuel-dominant energy to advance renewable energy transitions and demands inclusion in the energy decision-making process.