NUCLEAR ENERGY AND THE CURRENT SECURITY ENVIRONMENT IN THE ERA OF HYBRID THREATS
NUCLEAR ENERGY AND THE CURRENT SECURITY ENVIRONMENT IN THE ERA OF HYBRID THREATS

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Governance, Environmental and Energy policy, International relations/trade, Security and defense, Environmental interactions, Geopolitics
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: Nuclear energy; security environment; hybrid threats; energy policy; politics; energy supply; carbon production; environment protection; geopolitics; energy stability;
Summary/Abstract: Security concerns are an integral part of the discussions on energy dependencies. The security discussion became even more common in the European energy debates with the various gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine in 2006–2015. After these incidents, the energy diversification policy has received increasing attention in Europe. Russia has featured prominently in the European debate relating to energy dependencies and interdependencies, but there are also other actors who may have an interest in affecting the stability of the energy supply. This has been the case with hydrocarbon production and exports in particular (Oxenstierna, 2014). Recent attacks on oil tankers and an oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia have made headlines and resulted in rapid fluctuations in the price of oil. Nuclear energy has attracted much less attention as a potential security risk compared to the perception of risks related to hydrocarbon dependency, and it is therefore worth taking a closer look at the sector. Different energy sources, industries and actors must be studied more carefully in the changed security environment. These changes include the growing dependencies across energy infrastructure systems, increasing interconnectedness in the world, the increased potential to use energy as a geo-political tool and the intensifying competition among great powers and regional hegemons (Verner, et al., 2019). The objective of this study is to analyse whether nuclear energy can be used in some way by an adversary as a part of their hybrid activity toolbox.

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