| 1. |
- Arzyutov, Dmitry V.
(författare)
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Reassembling the Environmental Archives of the Cold War : Perspectives from the Russian North
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To what extent the environmental history of the Arctic can move beyond thedivide between Indigenous peoples and newcomers or vernacular and academicways of knowing? The present dissertation answers this question by developing thenotion of an environmental archive. Such an archive does not have particular referenceto a given place but rather it refers to the complex network that marks the relationsbetween paper documents and human and non-human agencies as they are able towork together and stabilise the conceptualisation of a variety of environmentalobjects. The author thus argues that the environment does not only containinformation about the past but just like any paper (or audio and video) archive isable to produce it through the relational nature of human-environment interactions.Through the analysis of five case studies from the Russian North, the reader isinvited to go through various forms of environmental archives which in turnembrace histories of a number of disciplines such as palaeontology, biology,anthropology, and medicine. Every case or a “layer” is presented here as a contactzone where Indigenous and academic forms of knowledge are not opposed to eachother but, on the contrary, are able to interact and consequently affect the globaldiscussions about the Russian Arctic. This transnational context is pivotal for all thecases discussed in the dissertation. Moreover, by putting the Cold War with itstensions between two superpowers at the chronological center of the present work,the author aims to reveal the multidimensionality of in situ interactions with, forinstance, the paleontological remains or the traces of all-terrain vehicles and theirinvolvement into broader science transnational cooperations and competitions. As aresult, the heterogeneous archives allow us to reconsider the environmental historyof the Russian North and the wider Arctic and open a new avenue for future researchtranscending the geopolitical and epistemic borders of knowledge production.
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| 2. |
- Avango, Dag, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Colonizing the poles
- 2015
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Ingår i: Seminar : the monthly symposium. - New Delhi : Seminar Publications. - 0037-1947.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 3. |
- Avango, Dag, et al.
(författare)
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Foreign Policy and Natural Resources : Swedish Neutrality from an Environmental History Perspective
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The year 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the last time that Sweden was technically at war. Since then, Sweden has built an international image of itself as a peace-loving and morally advanced country. This is in sharp contrast with earlier Swedish history, in which Swedish Vikings and famous warrior kings like Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII caused havoc across much of the European continent. In Swedish history-writing as well as in the country's dominant social and political self-understanding, the 200 years of peace are typically attributed to a policy of neutrality, or non-alignment. The non-alignment policy has also been coupled - both in theoretical terms and in practical effect - with an expansive development aid policy towards former colonies and other developing countries in the South. The image of a benevolent and disinterested neutral country was further strengthened by high-profile international pro-activism, for example, through the United Nations and institutions like the Nobel Prize. However, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, a vivid debate among Swedish historians has led to reinterpretations Swedish neutrality during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This paper contributes to this debate by applying an environmental history lens to the analysis of political neutrality. Our hypothesis is that Sweden's non-alignment has been intimately linked to the country's role in the global natural resource system. Starting from the observation that Swedish non-alignment policy became firmly established precisely at the time of Sweden's resource-dependent industrial breakthrough in the late nineteenth century, we use primary and secondary sources to explore the intimate connections between two sets of actors: foreign policy actors and the rapidly expanding community of industrial actors. The latter sought to influence foreign policymaking both in the context of the need for secure access to natural resources not available domestically - of crucial importance for the country's growing production and export of steel, agricultural produce, and increasingly sophisticated technological artefacts - and in the context of investment in extractive industries abroad, particularly in colonial regions. At the same time, however, Swedish industrialists, engineers, and scientists active abroad were also eyed by the government as political tools.
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| 4. |
- Avango, Dag, et al.
(författare)
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Sweden and the Origins of Global Resource Colonialism : Exploring a Neutral Country's Natural Resource Interests in Africa, Caucasia and the Arctic
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The quest for the world's remaining natural resources has intensified markedly in recent years. A salient and controversial point of debate in this context has become the extent to and ways in which old colonial relations are argued to live on in a new global “resource colonialism”. Although Sweden is rarely thought of as a colonial power, Swedish actors are currently very active when it comes to resource exploitation in many parts of the world. As a small, neutral country with an excellent international reputation and virtually without enemies, we argue that Sweden has been able to mobilize the international resource system to its benefit much more effectively than many other European countries. This paper takes an historical perspective on the present by exploring the origins of Swedish interests and activities in the colonial resource arena from around 1880 to 1945. More precisely, we analyze and compare Swedish natural resource interests in three colonial arenas: Africa, Caucasia and the Arctic. In the case of Africa, we explore Sweden's virtually unknown - but highly active - participation at the Berlin conference in 1884-85. In the Caucasus case, we reinterpret the Nobel brothers crucial role in creating Baku's oil industry as a salient example of Swedish involvement in Russian resource colonialism. In the Arctic, we explore the connections between state and private interests in coal mining in Spitsbergen. An essential research issue concerns the extent to which it is possible to discern a common Swedish 'style' with regard to the country's interests and activities in colonial areas.
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| 5. |
- Avango, Dag, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Swedish Explorers, In-Situ Knowledge, and Resource-Based Business in the Age of Empire
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of History. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0346-8755 .- 1502-7716. ; 43, s. 324-347
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The period from 1870 to 1914 plays a unique role in the history of natural resource exploration and extraction. This article analyses, from a Swedish viewpoint, the connections between two actor categories of special importance in this context: scientific-geographical explorers and industrial actors. The article examines their activities in three broadly defined regions: the Arctic, Russia, and Africa. We show that the Swedes generally had far-reaching ambitions, on par with those of the large imperial powers. In some cases, notably in Africa, Sweden was not able to compete with the larger imperial powers; but in other cases, such as the exploration of the Arctic – from Spitsbergen to Siberia – and the industrial exploitation of coal at Spitsbergen and petroleum in Russia’s colonial periphery, Swedish actors played a leading role, in competition with players from the larger European nations. Our paper shows that scientific exploration and industry were closely linked, and that foreign policy also influenced the shaping of these links. We distinguish different types of knowledge produced by the Swedish actors, pointing to local, situated knowledge as the most important type for many resource-based businesses, although modern, scientific knowledge was on the increase during this period.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Balmaceda, Margarita, et al.
(författare)
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Energy materiality : A conceptual review of multi-disciplinary approaches
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This jointly authored essay reviews recent scholarship in the social sciences, broadly understood, that focuses on the materiality of energy. Although this work is extraordinarily diverse in its disciplinary and interdisciplinary influences and its theoretical and methodological commitments, we discern four areas of convergence and divergence that we term the locations, uses, relationalities, and analytical roles of energy materiality. We trace these convergences and divergences through five recent scholarly conversations: materiality as a constraint on actors' behavior; historical energy systems; mobility, space and scale; discourse and power via energy materialities; and energy becoming material.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Duwig, Christophe
(creator_code:cre_t)
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Exhibition : Towards the energy of the future – the invisible revolution behind the electrical socket
- 2023
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Konstnärligt arbeteabstract
- Energy Crisis! Electricity Price drama! The threat of global energy poverty! Media are generous with spectacular titles. Yes, energy is important, and yes, nearly all societal challenges are connected to how we convert, distribute and use energy. Therefore, the KTH Energy Platform and KTH Library presented an exhibition with the theme Towards the energy of the future – the invisible revolution behind the electrical socket.The exhibition displayed showcase illustrations from the book made by Lotta Waesterberg Tomasson, as well as books related to energy and electricity from the KTH Library's collections. In parallell with the exhibition, a series of live popular science lunch seminars with presentations of selected chapters of the book took place. As part of the exhibition, students from KTH's Electrical Engineering program also showcased exciting projects that connect to the anthology’s contents, made with materials and equipment from the student-driven ELAB and “Studentverkstan”. Visitors were also invited to share their reflections and ideas on energy.
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| 10. |
- Evens, Siegfried
(författare)
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Streams, Steams, and Steels : A Transnational History of Risk Regulation in Nuclear Power Plants (1850–1985)
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Water is essential to produce nuclear energy and prevent nuclear disasters. As light water reactors are increasingly seen as a solution to achieving a sustainable energy transition and battling the climate crisis, it is more important than ever to investigate the risks of using water for nuclear power production. However, the reactor technologies that manage all that water and steam – pressure vessels, steam generators, pipes, valves, and pumps – have not received much attention from historians, STS scholars, and risk sociologists. Therefore, this dissertation aims to study the risk regulation of these crucial reactor components and materials by national and international actors from a historical perspective.Relying on archival sources from the US, France, Sweden, and multiple international organisations, as well as on interviews, this dissertation aims to write a new, longue durée history of nuclear safety, going back to the origins of water and steam risk management in the nineteenth century. Such a historical perspective on nuclear risk regulation reveals two important insights. Firstly, in the 1950s and 1960s, the usage of water and steam technologies in nuclear reactors revealed new types of risks. These ‘ambi-nuclear risks’ are a hybrid of older steam risks, such as leaks, breaks, and explosions, and new risks of radiation and contamination. Secondly, between the 1950s and 1980s, new regimes were created in the US, France, and Sweden to regulate these risks. Initially, during the 1950s, non-nuclear steam regulations were applied directly to the first nuclear power plants. Yet, as power plants increased in size, accidents occurred, and nuclear technologies became increasingly controversial, ‘ambi-nuclear risk regimes’ were created to adapt or ‘nuclearise’ the older regulations. They included new safety measures and methodologies that were directed toward preventing radiation releases, but at the same time they mobilised older technologies, institutions, knowledges, and ideas related to thermal hydraulics and metallurgy. Ambi-nuclear risk regimes were shaped by a wide variety of historical actors through negotiating boundaries between ‘nuclear’ and ‘non-nuclear’ knowledges, components, risks, and regulations. Private or semi-private engineering associations played a particularly vital role in this.This thesis thus shows how nuclear safety as we know it today became nuclear as the result of a transnational long-term process that was greatly determined by much older non-nuclear water and steam risks. The results of this dissertation contribute to ongoing scholarly debates on risk, nuclear technologies, and water in fields like History of Technology, Environmental3History, STS, and Risk Sociology. Most importantly, the thesis expands the time frame in which nuclear risk has traditionally been studied. It challenges dominant conceptions of nuclear power as innovative or exceptional, instead connecting questions of nuclear risk to longer historical developments in water management and industrialisation. This demonstrates the importance of historical contingency for understanding risk and preventing (nuclear) disasters.
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| 11. |
- Fjæstad, Maja, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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The Geopolitics of Energy : Swedish International Dependencies in a Historical Perspective
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A metaphor that is often used to describe energy supply is that of a nation’s blood circulation. Indeed, a permanent interruption in the supply of energy would be lethal to any society. Sweden – a neutral country in cold war Europe – belongs to those countries that are, and have been, very strongly dependent on imports of energy, and this implies a special vulnerability. Today two imported energy carriers – oil and uranium – each covers some 30 % of the total.Sweden is of course not alone in its dependence on imported fuels. The world’s energy resources are unevenly distributed, and since the mid 19th century the pursuit of coal, oil, gas and uranium has been an important constituent of international politics and economics. The strongest nations have used economical, political and if necessary military means to control energy sources in far away territories in order to secure their energy supplies at home. This is often referred to as the geopolitics of energy, and there has been quite some research about it. There has been much less research on how small nations have tried to handle their dependencies on far away countries using “soft” means rather than “hard” ones. By studying how Sweden has done this we hope to contribute to an understanding of the geopolitics of energy of small nations.We will focus at which actors and which motives that have been central in these decisions and whether it is possible to identify a distinct but evolving ‘Swedish model’ in actors’ attempts to deal with vulnerabilities stemming from energy import dependence, and if this model has applied to the energy system as a whole, i.e. the same model has applied to all types of fuels.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Gutting, Alicia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Atomic Rivers : The (Un)Sustainability of Nuclear Energy from a Water Perspective
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- 2022 was another consecutive year in which water levels of major European rivers – such as the Rhine, the Danube and the Rhône – were dangerously low and the water temperatures very high. This caused severe problems for the operation of nuclear power plants across continental Europe. Energy companies in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and elsewhere had to partly or fully shut down their nuclear plants because there was not enough cooling water available or, more commonly, because the cooling water that was returned to the river became too warm. Environmental regulations, designed to protect the riverine flora and fauna as far as possible, stipulated that nuclear power plants were not allowed to release cooling water above a certain temperature. The resulting shutd0wns of nuclear power plants – and the attempts by nuclear operators to prevent such undesired measures – raise questions about the sustainability of nuclear energy in a rapidly warming world, whereby the meaning of sustainability differs from how this concept is usually discussed in the context of nuclear energy. On this basis, this paper explores the (un)sustainability of riverine nuclear energy in past, present, and future, tracing its evolution over time from the early days of nuclear planning and construction to today’s – as of yet unfulfilled – dreams of a “nuclear renaissance”. We look at several European rivers that underwent nuclearization from the 1950s onwards, reconstructing the often harsh struggles among a diverse group of actors for access to sufficient volumes of cooling water, the fight against “thermal pollution”, the negotiations about allowed temperature limits, and the emergence of technical fixes such as cooling towers and artificial lakes as – partly successful, partly failed – solutions to such problems.
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| 14. |
- Gutting, Alicia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Atomic Rivers : The (Un)sustainability of Nuclear Power in an Age of Climate Change
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The increasingly noticeable effects of climate change are leading to increased advocacy of nuclear energy. Even though the so-called nuclear renaissance has come to an abrupt halt, especially due to the Fukushima disaster, proponents of nuclear energy are promoting it as an inevitable solution to decarbonise electricity production. Yet it has been known since the 1960s that waste heat from nuclear power plants has devastating effects on river ecosystems. Even though countries like Germany and Switzerland have taken measures to limit the thermal load of the Rhine and Aare, the Rhine is still the most thermally polluted river in the world in relation to its water resources. This raises the question of whether the socio-technical promise of sustainability of the current nuclear power plants is at all tenable from a river perspective.On this basis, this paper explores the (un)sustainability of riverine nuclear energy in past, present, and future, tracing its evolution over time from the early days of nuclear planning and construction to today’s – as of yet unfulfilled – dreams of a “nuclear renaissance”. We look at several European rivers that underwent nuclearization from the 1950s onwards, reconstructing the often-harsh struggles among a diverse group of actors for access to sufficient volumes of cooling water, the fight against “thermal pollution”, the negotiations about allowed temperature limits, and the emergence of technical fixes such as cooling towers and artificial lakes as – partly successful, partly failed – solutions to such problems.
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| 15. |
- Gutting, Alicia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Atomic Rivers : The (Un)sustainability of Nuclear Power in an Age of Climate Change
- 2024
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The sustainability of nuclear energy amidst climate change and environmental regulations poses critical challenges, particularly in European contexts where major rivers like the Rhine, the Danube, and the Rhône are experiencing declining water levels and rising temperatures. We scrutinise the operational difficulties nuclear power plants encounter, arising from insufficient cooling water and environmental mandates that prevent the discharge of overly warm cooling water into rivers. These conditions have led to partial or full shutdowns of nuclear facilities across France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Romania, and other countries, emphasising the tension between nuclear energy as a low-carbon solution and its environmental impacts. We explore the concept of sustainability in the context of riverine nuclear energy from three angles: technical challenges posed by water scarcity, regulatory constraints on cooling water temperatures, and the ecological impacts of thermal discharges on riverine ecosystems. In our analysis we reveal an emerging contradiction between ensuring electricity supply and adhering to environmental protections, highlighting the need for a reevaluation of nuclear energy's role in a future sustainable energy landscape.
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| 16. |
- Gutting, Alicia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Geographies of Nuclear Energy : An Introduction
- 2024
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Ingår i: Historical Social Research. - 0172-6404. ; 49:1, s. 7-31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- »Geographien der Kernenergie. Eine Einführung«. Nuclear energy has long attracted the attention of scholars in the humanities and social sciences. With this HSR Special Issue, we would like to push the scholarly frontier by highlighting the geographies of nuclear energy in the past and present. Nuclear energy is inherently interwoven with geography. We argue that to fully appreciate and grasp nuclear energy’s geographical and spatial dimensions, approaches from a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields are needed. This special issue thus includes contributions from history, geography, political science, technology assessment, science and technology studies (STS), and other fields. This article introduces this topic by outlining the state of the art of the geographies of nuclear energy and discusses different conceptual frameworks of how to understand nuclear-space interactions. In addition, the individual articles in this issue are briefly presented here and discussed within the research context. The articles themselves cover the geography of nuclear energy from beginning to end: from the mining of uranium, the planning and construction of nuclear power plants, the formation of public resistance, and the cooling of nuclear energy sites as well as the evolution of research centres and, last but not least, the political control and storage of nuclear waste. The collection of articles published here were part of the double session “Geographies of Nuclear Energy,” presented at the RGSIBG Annual International Conference 2021, and of the session “Atomic Rivers,” presented at the ESEH Conference 2023.
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| 17. |
- Gutting, Alicia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Nuclearized River Basins : Conflict and Cooperation along the Rhine, Danube, and Elbe
- 2024
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Ingår i: Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung. - : GESIS. - 0172-6404. ; 49:1, s. 92-125
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nuklearisierte Flussgebiete: Konflikt und Kooperation an Rhein, Donau und Elbe«. This article analyses the historical geography of nuclear energy through the spatial lens of river basins. Approximately half of the world’s nuclear power plants were built along one or the other river. There, they gave rise to both conflict and cooperation. Drawing on the theoretical notion of water interaction, which takes into account relations of both conflictual and cooperative nature, we distinguish between such relations in three dimensions: space, environment, and infrastructure. The spatial dimension gravitates around social and political processes where proximity and distance are at the heart, often linked to the search for suitable sites for nuclear construction. The environmental dimension refers to conflict and cooperation around the radioactive and thermal pollution of waterways. The infrastructural dimension, finally, highlights how nuclear power plant builders, when they arrived from the 1950s onwards, had to relate to pre-existing infrastructural features of the rivers, which sometimes led to clashes with other actors and sometimes to more cooperative forms of interaction. In empirical terms, we focus on three European river basins that came to play particularly important roles in European nuclear history: those of the Rhine, Danube, and Elbe.
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| 18. |
- Gutting, Alicia, 1986-
(författare)
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The Nuclear Rhine : Conflict and Cooperation in a Transnational River Basin
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The water and nuclear energy sectors are intricately and interdependently entwined. In this thesis, the relationship between water and nuclear energy is being examined specifically in the Rhine River basin from the 1950s to the contemporary period. Through a series of four research articles, this work scrutinises the complex interaction between nuclear development and water management, emphasising the critical yet often undervalued role of water in the nuclear energy sector. This investigation gains particular relevance in the context of climate change, which heightens the environmental impact of nuclear power as well as the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to extreme weather events, such as heatwaves.A central thesis argument is the contemporary societal undervaluation of water for nuclear energy, contrasted with its more recognised value in the mid-20th century. This shift in perception is especially pertinent as extreme weather conditions underscore the need to reassess water's worth. Employing a transnational and interconnected approach, this research challenges conventional national narratives and underscores the significance of cooperative and shared resource management along the Rhine. This paradigm serves as a blueprint for future transnational collaborations, particularly within the European sphere.The analysis explores various facets of water-nuclear-interactions, including the selection of riverine sites for nuclear power plants, the challenges and conflicts arising from these decisions, and specific case studies on risk perception, water diplomacy, and the sustainability of nuclear power in the age of climate change. These discussions are not only rooted in historical analysis but also engage with contemporary debates about the environmental sustainability of nuclear energy and its role in a future marked by increasing climatic uncertainties.In summary, this thesis offers a novel perspective on the dynamic relationship between water and nuclear energy, advocating for a renewed appreciation of water as a crucial but limited resource. It highlights the necessity for sustainable, forward-thinking approaches to nuclear energy development. As we confront the challenges of climate change, the insights from this research present valuable lessons on the importance of transnational cooperation, comprehensive risk assessment, and the meticulous consideration of environmental impacts in shaping future energy policy. Thus, this work illuminates the past while providing guidance for navigating the complex interdependencies between water and nuclear energy in the future.
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| 19. |
- Heymann, Matthias, et al.
(författare)
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Challenging Europe: Technology, Environment, and the Quest for Resource Security
- 2020
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Ingår i: Technology and Culture. - : Project Muse. - 0040-165X .- 1097-3729. ; 61:1, s. 282-294
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the nineteenth century, access to and the development of natural resources became an important element of national and international politics. Resource security emerged as an issue vital to national security; and resource competition and crises gave rise to international tensions as well as to technological innovation and new modes of transnational cooperation.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Högselius, Per, 1973-
(författare)
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Atomic Shocks of the Old : Putting Water at the Center of Nuclear Energy History
- 2022
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Ingår i: Technology and culture. - : Johns Hopkins University Press. - 0040-165X .- 1097-3729. ; 63:1, s. 1-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article argues that the history of nuclear energy can and should be analyzed as a history of water. Taking inspiration from David Edgerton's The Shock of the Old and recent efforts to merge the history of technology with environmental history, here the focus shifts from nuclear reactors to the "conventional" parts of nuclear power plants. This brings to the fore that a range of hydraulic technologies with long prehistories—pumps, pipes, valves, dams, dikes, and so on—have been crucially important for nuclear safety. The "atomic age" is fundamentally a hydraulic age and should be seen in relation to experiences gathered by past hydraulic civilizations.
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| 25. |
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