Home History 13 Revealing Risks: European Moments in Nuclear Politics and the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

13 Revealing Risks: European Moments in Nuclear Politics and the Anti-Nuclear Movement

  • Astrid Mignon Kirchhof and Jan-Henrik Meyer
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Greening Europe
This chapter is in the book Greening Europe

Abstract

This chapter explores various European moments when Europeans have engaged with civil and military use of nuclear energy. While the development of nuclear power was initially closely and deliberately linked to (re‐)building Europe and European integration, since the 1970s, the growing critique of this technology has given rise to conflicts within societies and across borders, transnational movements, and European networks of cooperation. In the beginning, this was limited to Western Europe, but since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 it has increasingly included the East as well. This chapter draws on European moments that have played out on - and often cut across - different levels, from the supranational to the national and local, in different parts of Europe, shaped by a variety of different actors. It underscores, in particular, the important role played by women in this conflict.

Abstract

This chapter explores various European moments when Europeans have engaged with civil and military use of nuclear energy. While the development of nuclear power was initially closely and deliberately linked to (re‐)building Europe and European integration, since the 1970s, the growing critique of this technology has given rise to conflicts within societies and across borders, transnational movements, and European networks of cooperation. In the beginning, this was limited to Western Europe, but since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 it has increasingly included the East as well. This chapter draws on European moments that have played out on - and often cut across - different levels, from the supranational to the national and local, in different parts of Europe, shaped by a variety of different actors. It underscores, in particular, the important role played by women in this conflict.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. On the “Contemporary European History” Handbook Series IX
  4. 1 Introduction: Writing a European History of Environmental Protection 1
  5. I Conserving Nature
  6. 2 Counting Birds: Protecting European Avifauna and Habitats 17
  7. 3 Europe and its Environmental Other(s): Imagining Natures for “Global” Conservation 47
  8. 4 Restoring, Reintroducing, Rewilding: Creating European Wilderness 73
  9. 5 Protecting Eurofisch: An Environmental History of the European Eel and its Europeanness 101
  10. 6 Transcending the Cold War: Borders, Nature, and the European Green Belt Conservation Project along the Former Iron Curtain 129
  11. II Preserving Livelihoods
  12. 7 Transforming Woodlands: European Forest Protection in a Global Context 157
  13. 8 Travelling (Western) Europe: Tourism, Regional Development, and Nature Protection 185
  14. 9 Moving Mountains: The Protection of the Alps 217
  15. 10 Negotiating the Maritime Commons: Protecting the Baltic Sea in a European Context 243
  16. 11 Recycling Europe’s Domestic Wastes: The Hope of “Greening” Mass Consumption through Recycling 269
  17. III Sustaining Environments
  18. 12 Visualizing the Invisible: Communicating Europe’s Environment 305
  19. 13 Revealing Risks: European Moments in Nuclear Politics and the Anti-Nuclear Movement 331
  20. 14 Combatting “Acid Rain”: Protecting the Common European Sky 363
  21. 15 Developing Europe: The Formation of Sustainability Concepts and Activities 389
  22. 16 Europeanizing Biodiversity: International Organizations as Environmental Actors 419
  23. 17 Epilogue: The Nature of Europe 447
  24. List of Contributors 451
  25. Index 455
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110669213-014

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. On the “Contemporary European History” Handbook Series IX
  4. 1 Introduction: Writing a European History of Environmental Protection 1
  5. I Conserving Nature
  6. 2 Counting Birds: Protecting European Avifauna and Habitats 17
  7. 3 Europe and its Environmental Other(s): Imagining Natures for “Global” Conservation 47
  8. 4 Restoring, Reintroducing, Rewilding: Creating European Wilderness 73
  9. 5 Protecting Eurofisch: An Environmental History of the European Eel and its Europeanness 101
  10. 6 Transcending the Cold War: Borders, Nature, and the European Green Belt Conservation Project along the Former Iron Curtain 129
  11. II Preserving Livelihoods
  12. 7 Transforming Woodlands: European Forest Protection in a Global Context 157
  13. 8 Travelling (Western) Europe: Tourism, Regional Development, and Nature Protection 185
  14. 9 Moving Mountains: The Protection of the Alps 217
  15. 10 Negotiating the Maritime Commons: Protecting the Baltic Sea in a European Context 243
  16. 11 Recycling Europe’s Domestic Wastes: The Hope of “Greening” Mass Consumption through Recycling 269
  17. III Sustaining Environments
  18. 12 Visualizing the Invisible: Communicating Europe’s Environment 305
  19. 13 Revealing Risks: European Moments in Nuclear Politics and the Anti-Nuclear Movement 331
  20. 14 Combatting “Acid Rain”: Protecting the Common European Sky 363
  21. 15 Developing Europe: The Formation of Sustainability Concepts and Activities 389
  22. 16 Europeanizing Biodiversity: International Organizations as Environmental Actors 419
  23. 17 Epilogue: The Nature of Europe 447
  24. List of Contributors 451
  25. Index 455
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 28.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110669213-014/html
Scroll to top button