A sudden focus on national energy independency following intensifying climate change mitigation efforts, geopolitical conflicts and reported breakthroughs in nuclear fusion seem to point in the direction of a nuclear renaissance. The state and corporate interest in so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) is reaching new peaks, and old promises of nuclear technology are being revived. Nuclear power is routinely portrayed as the source of limitless amounts of clean energy and as the stable source of carbon-free electricity. The rhetorical move from speaking about ‘renewable energy’ to ‘fossil-free energy’ is increasingly evident.

Amidst this prospective renaissance, the task of managing the radioactive leftovers from nuclear energy production becomes more pronounced. Whilst the immediate storage of highly radioactive matter has been in place for decades, the question of long-term storage has caused intense political debates and numerous cancelled construction projects. Not least are debates around how best to communicate memory of these nuclear waste leftovers thousands of years into the future.

In this session we gather research engaging critically with practices of this seeming nuclear renaissance. We invite papers engaging with topics including, but not limited to, the following:
- Critical readings of nuclear renaissance practices in historical and/or national contexts.
- Theorizations of nuclear energy cultures relating to nuclear matter, agencies, and powers.
- Archival and memory research into atomic heritage.
- Engagements with the institutional management and/or legitimization of nuclear power and/or weapons programs.
- Deep future and future studies engagements with the nuclear.