This symposium brings together nuclear scholars from disparate research backgrounds to explore ‘transnational nuclear perspectives’. The symposium will have four panels across one day. Chaired by Jeff Hughes, the first panel will explore ‘Nuclear Activism’. Three papers by Alison Kraft, Silke Fengler and Christoph Laucht will examine ‘scientific activism’ and transnational scientific-political networks.

The second panel, ‘Nuclear Industry’, chaired by Jacob Hamblin, will present new research on the development of nuclear industries in Europe. Maja Fjaestad explores the unique characteristics of the Swedish nuclear industry. Mar Rubio will explore the development of nuclear science in Spain, and Christian Forstner looks at how the history of Austria’s nuclear development can be viewed in a comparative perspective in the Cold War context. Finally, a paper by Karena Kalmbach analyses national political responses to Chernobyl.

The third panel, entitled ‘Nuclear Narratives’, is chaired by Christoph Laucht. Dan Cordle will present a paper on the national and international dynamics of nuclear discourse. Bo Jacobs and Mick Broderick will present their recent research on global nuclear testing, before Jonathan Hogg asks whether the conceptualisation of nuclear anxiety can be developed further.

The last panel of the day is entitled ‘Nuclear Cultures’, chaired by Joseph Masco. Ele Carpenter explain how her curatorial work on dismantling nuclear submarines is attempting to ‘map the conceptual scope of the nuclear field’. Richard Maguire will then discuss his research on nuclear decision making, applying theories of behavioural psychology to complex professional networks. The last paper of the day will be presented by Dan Grausam, whose latest research interests are focused on the ‘strategies in recent installation art, collage, photography and literature for making radioactive danger visible’.

Joseph Masco will then offer a commentary on the final panel, with time for questions for the final panelists and a general discussion on themes explored as part of the symposium. It is hoped that the transnational focus of the symposium will encourage exploration of ‘how facts, and other knowledge-claims, travel between disciplines, countries and communities’ as well as advance our understanding of ‘relationships between those knowledge-making enterprises which are described as ‘science’ and those which are not, and the dynamics of the boundaries between them.