Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.

Over half a century, the uranium mining industry in France has produced a large part of the nuclear fuel, especially in Limousin. The article analyzes its dismantling and neglect activities, with their challenges and problems. These activities, which began in the 1990s, are carried out in an ambiguo...

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Main Author: Philippe Brunet
Format: Article
Language:French
Published: Éditions en environnement VertigO 2022-02-01
Series:VertigO
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/33054
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author Philippe Brunet
author_facet Philippe Brunet
author_sort Philippe Brunet
collection DOAJ
description Over half a century, the uranium mining industry in France has produced a large part of the nuclear fuel, especially in Limousin. The article analyzes its dismantling and neglect activities, with their challenges and problems. These activities, which began in the 1990s, are carried out in an ambiguous manner, with tensions between the mining and nuclear worlds. Their reception on the territory, as an environmental issue, shows hot and cold periods that lead to a partial abandonment. Two parts structure the article. The first part situates the industry in its production and its territorial anchorage through two temporalities: that of « the blessed time of uranium » until the middle of the 1970s, then that of « the disputed time of nuclear power,» where we witness a rise in industrial power, which reconfigures production and the territory. The second part focuses on the activities of closure, dismantling and redevelopment. Faced with local elected officials and associative groups, each of which is trying to take charge of the environmental question of the post-mining era, COGEMA is transforming itself into an environmental contractor while at the same time pre-empting the industrial memory. The State, for its part, is forced to grasp the nuclear nature of the remains. Conflicts constantly punctuate this process, which the consultation of the actors facing the operator as to the impossibility of finding a satisfactory solution. The abandonment, therefore, remains indefinitely partial.
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spelling doaj-art-9f52c9caa2ae452d93994c096e8fd6612025-06-27T09:47:43ZfraÉditions en environnement VertigOVertigO1492-84422022-02-013510.4000/vertigo.33054Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.Philippe BrunetOver half a century, the uranium mining industry in France has produced a large part of the nuclear fuel, especially in Limousin. The article analyzes its dismantling and neglect activities, with their challenges and problems. These activities, which began in the 1990s, are carried out in an ambiguous manner, with tensions between the mining and nuclear worlds. Their reception on the territory, as an environmental issue, shows hot and cold periods that lead to a partial abandonment. Two parts structure the article. The first part situates the industry in its production and its territorial anchorage through two temporalities: that of « the blessed time of uranium » until the middle of the 1970s, then that of « the disputed time of nuclear power,» where we witness a rise in industrial power, which reconfigures production and the territory. The second part focuses on the activities of closure, dismantling and redevelopment. Faced with local elected officials and associative groups, each of which is trying to take charge of the environmental question of the post-mining era, COGEMA is transforming itself into an environmental contractor while at the same time pre-empting the industrial memory. The State, for its part, is forced to grasp the nuclear nature of the remains. Conflicts constantly punctuate this process, which the consultation of the actors facing the operator as to the impossibility of finding a satisfactory solution. The abandonment, therefore, remains indefinitely partial.https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/33054territoryconflictsmemoryuranium mining industryLimousinenvironmental question
spellingShingle Philippe Brunet
Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.
VertigO
territory
conflicts
memory
uranium mining industry
Limousin
environmental question
title Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.
title_full Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.
title_fullStr Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.
title_full_unstemmed Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.
title_short Aux marges du nucléaire français : ce que veut dire démanteler l’industrie minière de l’uranium.
title_sort aux marges du nucleaire francais ce que veut dire demanteler l industrie miniere de l uranium
topic territory
conflicts
memory
uranium mining industry
Limousin
environmental question
url https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/33054
work_keys_str_mv AT philippebrunet auxmargesdunucleairefrancaiscequeveutdiredemantelerlindustrieminieredeluranium