Nuclear zelus: climate-oriented imaginaries among nuclear energy professionals

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay engages rhetorics of zeal, a common genre of contemporary discourse that merits further study. To focus on a representative example, we draw from multi-sited rhetorical fieldwork at nuclear science conferences and supplementary texts, examining the rhetoric of nuclear professionals’ zealous advocacy of nuclear power as a response to climate change and energy poverty. A common set of arguments appears throughout our texts: jealousy or envy over renewable energy technologies; protectiveness over perceived unfair policy treatment; love or devotion for nuclear energy as a savior technology; and passion or zeal to share the story of nuclear support with others. To describe these and similar rhetorics, we theorize the nuclear zelus trope. Drawing from the mythological and etymological history of the term “zeal,” zelus rhetorics are characterized by a general narrative of passionate advocacy. Through a series of rhetorical patterns that channel passion into a call to action, nuclear zelus names white savior and racialized tropes that position nuclear energy technology as a global savior and supporters of nuclear energy as driven by a sense of righteousness. The conclusion addresses implications for further understanding zeal as an important rhetorical frame across various contexts.