Nuclear Cultural Heritage: From Knowledge to Practice

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This research networking project focuses on the emerging field of nuclear cultural heritage. It aims to establish unprecedented links between national and international nuclear cultural heritage researchers and the heritage sector on the one hand, and the nuclear sector on the other. It will create an interdisciplinary network which will serve as a platform to describe nuclear cultural heritage in select European and non-European countries as well as to develop new research, exhibition and public engagement strategies. The notion of nuclear cultural heritage is new to heritage studies and practice: it refers to a wide range of tangible and intangible objects, such as decommissioned power plants, museum exhibits, landscapes and communities that are associated with the civil and military nuclear industry. The concept of nuclear cultural heritage that this project will develop will provide ways of responding to pressing challenges experienced by nuclear nations, such as the management of nuclear waste and military arsenals, the future of the nuclear energy industry, and the need to reassess the wider social and cultural legacy of the nuclear past. Innovative initiatives to construct archives, museums, sites and exhibitions of nuclear cultural heritage have been emerging in different countries: for instance, the UK's Dounreay and Russia's Obninsk nuclear power plants have been undergoing transformation into cultural heritage sites. However, there is very little international cooperation in this field. This research networking project will bridge this gap by providing an international forum for leading social science and humanities scholars and heritage practitioners to examine the state of the art in this field and identify common issues in relation to collecting, interpreting and governing nuclear cultural heritage. In doing this, the project responds to the AHRC Heritage Research Strategy connecting arts and humanities with science and technology as well as practice. The project outcomes will be a) the establishment of a new network for sustained national and international cooperation among participating scholars and nuclear heritage institutions, b) development of a new understanding of key national and international issues in the making of what this project describes as nuclear cultural heritage by bringing together different stakeholders such as academic researchers, museum practitioners and nuclear industry professionals; and c) the development of a set of guidelines aimed at future nuclear heritage practitioners.