Thermonuclear Natures: Ecological Compensation as a Containment Strategy

Location: conference room, fourth floor, RCC

Presenter: Gabriella Rago (University of Turin)

Moderator: Jonatan Palmblad

In this Speak4Nature seminar, visiting scholar Gabriella Rago (University of Turin) will present a paper-in-progress on “Thermonuclear Natures.” The article aims to explore the meanings of ecological compensation strategies implemented to contain the environmental impact of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Focusing on the case of the world’s largest international nuclear fusion experiment, currently under construction in the Cadarache forest, France, the research is primarily addressing the following questions: “What is nature” in the ecological compensation system?; and To what extent do ITER’s ecological compensation practices contribute to the imaginary of nuclear fusion as a sustainable energy source?

Drawing on archival and digital sources, as well as interdisciplinary literature, this work will critically examine the conception of nature underlying the principles of ecological compensation. The article will argue that these strategies—simultaneously ordinary and exceptional—are aimed at building the social acceptability of nuclear projects, reflecting a technocratic approach of communicating and managing the environmental risks and the thermonuclear technological sublime.

No registration is needed to attend this seminar. If you would like to attend online, however, please register here.

Speak4Nature is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie-funded staff exchange action of the European Commission, with the specific object of transferring both theoretical and empirical knowledge related to the techniques that assert the voice of non-human nature in social and legal instances. Read more about the Rachel Carson Center's and LMU Munich's involvement in the project here.