Abstract
This project set out to illuminate the discursive existence of nuclear waste in American culture. Given the significant temporal dimension of the phenomenon as well as the challenging size of the United States setting, the project adapted key methodological elements of the sociocultural anthropology tradition and produced proxies for ethnographic fieldnotes and key informant interviews through sampling the digital archives of the New York Times over a 64-year period that starts with the first recorded occurrence of the notion of nuclear waste and ends with the conclusion of the presidency of George W. Bush. Two paradigmatic waves of American public discourse on nuclear waste come to light when subjecting this empirical data to quantitative inventorying and interpretive analysis: between 1945 and 1969 nuclear waste was generally framed in light of the beneficial utilizations of nuclear reactions and with optimistic expectations for a scientific/technological solution; by contrast, between 1969 and 2009 nuclear waste was conceptualized as inherited harm that could not be undone and contestation that required political/legal management. Besides this key finding and the empirical timing of the two paradigms, the study’s value lies also with its detailed empirical documentation of nuclear waste in its sociocultural existence.
Highlights
The Ontology of Nuclear WasteAt a glance, nuclear waste might appear to be inorganic matter, something of physical and chemical properties that arises out of natural reactions, which happen to be harnessed by humanity only in relatively limited ways and relatively only as of late
The present project built on the premise that this solid body of knowledge would be enhanced if we investigated the sociocultural existence of nuclear waste on its own right
In order to define these conceptual frameworks, the researcher spelled out the underlying and often implied meanings that were conveyed in the language of the reporting, the modes of framing or representing issues, and worked on systemizing these. Key among these foci and meanings and shared perspectives were the benefits of nuclear exploitation, the hazards of radioactivity, the methods for the disposal of nuclear waste, the inability to achieve safe containment, numerous health and environmental concerns, a variety of radioactive isotopes, scientific discovery, technology, sites of disposal, costs of disposal, the role and the actions of government, the national and the international players, political action, legal disputes, the environmental movement, the emergence of industry, as well as numerous identifiable individuals depicted in their actions and sometimes cited in their own words
Summary
Nuclear waste might appear to be inorganic matter, something of physical and chemical properties that arises out of natural reactions, which happen to be harnessed by humanity only in relatively limited ways and relatively only as of late. To be submitted to this process efficiently, especially for purposes of energy production, radioactive atoms, typically of uranium, are processed into what is called nuclear fuel Such fuel is typically not fully decayed while fissioned in a nuclear reactor: after nuclear splitting slows past the point where it can be exploited efficiently, used fuel continues to decay and emit both radiation and heat. This decaying radioactive matter is one prime example of what is called nuclear waste. At the same time, acknowledging nuclear waste its sociocultural existence is not focusing on its original fact of arising out of the human exploitation of the material world. The launching premise for the present study is that this existence of nuclear waste calls for an anthropological understanding
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