The crisis of the nuclear industry and the emergency with radioactive waste. Criticism and resistance at the ITREC centre in Rotondella

Abstract

Based on historical-ethnographic research, this article investigates various ways of experiencing and representing the critical issues related to radioactive waste stored at the former Trisaia-ITREC nuclear research plant. By cross-referencing archive material with oral sources, it will show how the crisis of the nuclear industry in Italy led to a change of sign, from positive to negative, of the radioactive element and a new consideration of the risks in the public debate. Within the framework of political discourse, media information and corporate rhetoric, the waste issue is addressed as an urgent matter for which the construction of the national repository would be an immediate solution. Attempts to de-stigmatise the territory and domesticate the risks of local populations are part of a different perspective. For the latter, the critical nature of waste is a long-term crisis that must be tackled with devices capable of projecting into a distant and uncertain future.