Path Dependencies and the Nuclear Cycle: Connections Between Proliferation, Disarmament, and Disposal

My dissertation, Tracing Nuclear History: Mapping the Crossroads of Nuclear Justice and Climate Change, examines nuclear justice in the context of climate change, highlighting the interconnected challenges both crises pose for justice and security. It explores the historical and material links between nuclear activities and their lasting consequences, arguing that climate change exacerbates the burdens borne by communities affected by the nuclear legacy. By centring local experiences of harm, the study reveals how these are connected to broader systemic injustices and global power structures.

As part of this, my presentation aims to understand overall connections from the past to the present and into the future. It seeks to explore how the path dependency of proliferation also determines disarmament and disposal. It underscores the need to examine the entire nuclear cycle – including uranium mining, nuclear weapons production, testing, and waste disposal – as a network of materialities that both shape and are shaped by political spaces. In doing so, it highlights the intergenerational local impacts, the ambivalences and nostalgias of nuclear culture, and the glocal interconnections. The presentation situates these processes within broader discussions of justice, security, and collective responsibility, reflecting on how nuclear cultural heritage is shaped, contested, and envisioned for the future.