Nuclear Settlers in a European Land? The Making of Centre Commune de Recherche in Ispra

Abstract

The post-war European integration process faced a new geographical chal-lenge in connection with the establishment of Euratom's Centre Commune de Recherche (Joint Research Centre; CCR/JRC) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This article outlines the early history of this first effort of "European land-making" by discussing the political, institutional, and anthropic significance of such a particular settlement in relation to the discourse on European identity. After lengthy negotiations within Euratom, it was decided to establish the CCR's headquarters and main research facilities in the Ital-ian region of Lombardy, in the Ispra municipality. More precisely, an already existing Italian nuclear research centre that was still under construction at Ispra in the late 1950s was transferred to Euratom. The article elaborates on the tensions and controversies that resulted in the context of this siting decision, and on the problems and challenges that the Euratom scientists and engineers experienced as "nuclear settlers in a European land." The article combines documents from the Historical Archives of the European Union and the recollections of former officers and scientists who were active at the research centre.