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emmenegger_2025_nuclearstrata_enactingclayforthedeepgeologicaldisposalofnuclearwasteinswitzerland-compressed
Journal article

Nuclear strata: Enacting clay for the deep geological disposal of nuclear waste in Switzerland

DOKPE

  • 2025
Published in:
  • Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. - SAGE Publications. - 2025
Political geology
subterranean
strata
nuclear waste governance
Switzerland
English For the realization of a deep geological repository, geoscientists have investigated various geological formations and assessed their suitability as host rocks for the long-term disposal of high-level nuclear waste. A fundamental epistemological uncertainty has characterized this geoscientific exploration of the subterranean, evolving not only as a scientific-technical challenge in deep geological disposal pro- jects but also as a sociopolitical one. This paper scrutinizes how the Swiss nuclear waste organiza- tion, during its recent drilling campaign, has publicly staged the Opalinus clay as a stable rock in order to make its disposal project feasible and sound. Based on ethnographic fieldwork as well as docu- ment and media analysis, it traces how science communication experts have created and arranged a series of maps, models, and materials to make the subterranean tangible to a surface audience over the course of the campaign. Strategically assembled at specific events, it shows that these political materials did not simply represent subterranean spaces but constituted a stratified subterranean geology on the surface. On this basis, this paper underlines the performative dimension of geology and the key importance of stabilizing geology in science-society encounters for deep geological dis- posal projects to advance. By illustrating how the subterranean has come to matter and became pol- itically significant in Switzerland’s contentious nuclear (waste) history, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the constitutive role of geology for imagining a postnuclear future.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Géosciences
Language
  • English
Classification
Geology
License
CC BY
Open access status
green
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/331738
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