Atomic Hope? – A Cultural Analysis of Contemporary Pro-Nuclear Sociotechnical Imaginaries

The “nuclear renaissance” of recent years is accompanied by the emergence of a new corpus of pro-nuclear energy cultural artifacts. They include documentaries like Pandora’s Promise (2013) and Atomic Hope (2022), campaigns by “Generation Atomic” and “Mothers for Nuclear”, or social media content by Isodope, the first self-proclaimed “nuclear energy influencer”. While tapping into pro-technological and ecomodernist discourses, their visuals and narratives also ‘green’ and ‘feminize’ pro-nuclear culture, transforming visions of nuclear energy futures through the mobilization of tropes historically found in anti-nuclear discourses. These reorientations point towards a powerful new (pro-)nuclear sociotechnical imaginary emerging in the 21^st century which presents an enticing alternative to more radical visions of system change and degrowth in Western environmental movements.

This paper examines these contemporary pro-nuclear energy narratives and aesthetics through an analysis of cultural artifacts such as documentaries, social media posts, activist statements, and campaign materials. With a theoretical grounding in the environmental, energy, and nuclear humanities, it seeks to develop an understanding of contemporary sociotechnical imaginaries of nuclear power to grasp shifting public debates about a sustainable and equitable energy transition in the US and Western Europe.