Bordering Nuclearity: Very Low-level Radioactive Wastes' Clearance and the Production of Spatial Nuclearities in Germany

Abstract

The proliferation of concepts to qualify relations between nuclear energy and space demonstrate the difficulties encountered in characterizing them. In this paper, building on Hecht's work on "nuclearity," we postulate that understanding the geographies of nuclear energy calls for a deconstruction of "spatial nuclearities" rather than "nuclear spaces." Here we hypothesize that the production of nuclearities' limits through controversies determines the borders of spaces considered as nuclear. To test it, this article will look into debates triggered by the clearance of very low-level radioactive waste in Germany. Clearance is the administrative act of denuclearizing radioactive materials, allowing them to be recycled, reused, or disposed of in the conventional sector. Research was conducted through the analy-sis of local newspapers, parliamentary debates, and semi-structured interviews. Results show three dynamics. Firstly, spatial nuclearity is relational, produced through interaction between the involved actors. Secondly, nuclear power spatialities are processual, emerging from everyday operations. Thirdly, spatial nuclearity is multidimensional, depending on sociospatial and local contingencies.