As 'first generation' nuclear power plants near the end of their lives, nuclear communities face new challenges. The process of nuclear decommissioning, in terms of loss of jobs at power plants, as well as the process of dealing with radioactive materials left over from power plants, means that communities reliant on nuclear power generation as a source of employment are undergoing changes.
This research builds on recent work in critical, political and cultural theory that explores the lived experience of late capitalism, drawing our attention to ways of persisting in the present. The project will engage with and generate knowledge about the specific experiences of communities near sites of nuclear decommissioning.
The project began in 2015 and is ongoing.
The site chosen is Visaginas, in Lithuania, a planned Soviet town built to house the workers of the Ignalina II Nuclear Power Plant (currently being decommissioned). In this project, ideas of futurelessness, dissociation, grassroots creativity and endurance are engaged with through arts-based interventions including photographic work, PLAN theatre, and storytelling as a platform for the generation of co-produced site-specific knowledge.
This will be undertaken through:
Drawing on the arts-based interventions mentioned above, as well as narrative interviews and ethnographic research in Lithuania and the UK, the project will:
Further information will be available on completion of the project.
Research team
Dr Leila Dawney
Output
To follow on completion of the project
Partners
Laurie Griffiths
Jonty Tacon