Putin Holds Europe Hostage, Time to Go Nuclear?

The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have all been affected by last week's halt in Russian gas supplies coming to the region through Ukraine. On Sunday night, Russia and Ukraine were still negotiating the restarting of gas flows to Europe. Even after they reach an agreement, it will still take days before Eastern European consumers are ensured normal levels of gas supplies. _ipsnews

Eastern European nations are torn between EU environmental concerns demanding that they give up their nuclear power reactors, and the stark reality of being held hostage to Russia's natural gas. And the winter is cold, very cold.

... with entry to the EU, Bulgaria has had to start phasing out its nuclear plant at Kozloduy, considered an environmental and safety hazard. Kozloduy was producing much of the electricity used in the country, and allowed Bulgaria to become an exporter in the Balkans.

Kozloduy became a hot issue between Bulgaria and the EU during the accession negotiations, but over the past week some European officials have been pushing for reopening two reactors at the plant. _ipsnews

Slovakia had a similar problem recently, and is forced to re-start a reactor previously closed by EU insistence.