1175 | 559 | Spatial redevelopment trajectories of nuclear sites. The cases of Brunsbüttel and Fessenheim

Around the world, more than 100 nuclear power plants will be shut down in the coming decades. However, this is a subject that has rarely been studied by the humanities and social sciences. Many of these studies focus on specific cases without comparison. They generalise the consequences of the closure for all territories. However, the intensity of the impacts varies according to the characteristics of the implementation territory (Meyer, 2015). It is therefore relevant to analyse the territorial trajectories followed by nuclear territories with fundamentally different characteristics. We will therefore focus on Fessenheim (France) and Brunsbüttel (Germany)_x000D_
The closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant is the result of a presidential election promise. Many people protested against the closure because of the plant’s strong connection to the local socio-economic life. Despite these protests, the plant finally closed in 2020. A redevelopment project was created, but the stakeholders seem to have difficulty in grasping the issue._x000D_
The Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant is located in one of the country’s largest industrial parks. In contrast to Fessenheim, its closure did not provoke any reaction from the population or local actors. Thus, no concrete project has emerged. The only visible media debate concerns the treatment and storage of the decommissioning waste from the power plant, which should be sent to a public landfill a hundred kilometres away. _x000D_
This communication proposes to highlight how the previous configurations of the territory, the legal framework as well as the way in which the question of the waste of the power plants is treated influence the redevelopment trajectories. We will be able to improve our understanding of the factors influencing the post-nuclear territory trajectories.

Belinda Ravaz
School of Engineering and Management Vaud, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland

ID Abstract: 559