An Anthropology of Nuclear Landscapes: Negotiating Radioactivity in Italy

Abstract

The global increase in energy uncertainty has renewed the discussion on the production and use of nuclear energy, recently labeled by the European Parliament as a climate-friendly investment (2022). The aim of the thesis is to offer an anthropological analysis of nuclear spaces taking into consideration the testimonies of some of the 52 artists who were involved in the exhibition “Art Spaces – Nuclear Decommissioning: the Science at the service of the future generation” in Ispra (2017), meant to be a meeting point between science, technology, and contemporary art. The thesis focus is on nuclear power, nuclear cultural heritage, decommissioning processes, and aesthetic reworkings of the relationship between nuclear waste, radiation, humans, and non-humans. In the first part are presented the nuclear landscapes in Italy, which are naturalcultural (Haraway 2003) contact zones, and are underlined the cultural, historical, and political processes that characterize the history of Italian nuclear programs. In the second part, the interviewee’s works and testimonies are discussed. These can be recognized as helpful tools to trace the coordinates of a relationship marked by interference and the invisible radioactive; moreover, their work offers an outlook on marking waste disposal sites for deep futures (Joyce 2020) waste archives. As nuclear technologies will continue to influence different aspects of our everyday life, and radioactive fallout particles will contaminate the surface of our planet for millions of years, it is pivotal to question our role in electricity production. Starting from these investigations, the objectives have been to define: what is the human contribution in these situations? Do techno-science landscapes reflect our un-degraded future? Is it possible to think about invisible contaminations through new languages? What defines nuclear heritage, and what happens when radioactive waste becomes part of our culture?