Undergrounds of Disposal: Sociogeological Processes in Nuclear Waste Management

• Applicant: Dr. Christiane Schürkmann
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 522985105

Modern industrialized societies are increasingly confronted with the question of disposing of their waste products. Beside sociotechnical challenges the natural environment plays an important role in developing long-term disposal scenarios. This is where the project comes in: Referring to the case of nuclear waste management the project investigates how societies produce knowledge and non-knowledge about but also with their undergrounds in order to develop stable repositories. In the context of nuclear waste management undergrounds primarily emerge as geological formations. These formations are addressed as bedrocks of hope by scientists, politicians, and the civic society due to their expected potential of isolating radionuclides in the long run. From a perspective located at the interface of Environmental Sociology and Science and Technology Studies the project examines sociogeological relations in the field of natural scientific research on disposing of radioactive waste. Based on qualitative research, the project empirically focuses on experimentations with repository-relevant materials in nuclear scientific laboratories; furthermore, it analyses procedures of geosphere modelling at the interface with biosphere modelling in order to investigate the creation of calculable futures. On a theoretical level, the project contributes to the question of how engineered societies access their natural undergrounds to dispose of their toxic waste products and how these subterranean environments affect scientifically developed disposal projects that are to be legitimated on a societal level.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants