NUCLEAR-TO-NATURE LAND CONVERSION

Abstract

ABSTRACT Postnuclear land conversion has gained attention as more civilian nuclear power reactors reach their design life. To date, most former nuclear power plant sites have been converted into another power plant or are sitting idle, often with spent nuclear fuel on site. However, a former nuclear power plant site in the town of Haddam, Connecticut, presents an alternative possibility: land conversion into a nature conservation area. We adopt theoretical vantage points of the geographical political economy literature to analyze the evolution of different discourses and actions relating to the former nuclear site, and examine why and how nuclear-to-nature conversion has gained momentum. The study reveals that the nuclear-to-nature proposition emerged as a political leverage to resolve conflicting interests over land reuse and spent nuclear fuel problems, which eventually engendered active local agency for land conservation. We argue that recognizing multiple articulations of space and associated agency is essential to understand the seemingly contradictory juxtaposition of nature and nuclear.