The co-production of nuclear science and diplomacy: towards a transnational understanding of nuclear things

Ito, Kenji; Rentetzi, Maria

doi:10.1080/07341512.2021.1905462

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…11 For a discussion of historiography on the co-production of nuclear science and diplomacy, see Ito & Rentetzi (2021). 12 Herrera Plaza (2015); Moran (2009).…”

Section: An Atomic Monument the Size Of A Football Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

A nuclear monument the size of a football field: The diplomatic construction of soil nuclearity in the Palomares accident (Spain, 1966)

Florensa

2021

Centaurus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On April 8, 1966, 4,808 barrels—208.2 L each—were buried at Savannah River nuclear cemetery in Aiken, South Carolina. They contained about 1,100 tons of radioactive contaminated soil and vegetation from Palomares, a village on the South Coast of Spain. Earlier that year, about 9 kg of plutonium had been scattered over Palomares due to a U.S. Air Force accident involving four nuclear bombs. In this paper I reconstruct the diplomatic negotiations between the US and Spain to establish the clean‐up criteria for Palomares by focusing on the contaminated earth. This work provides an interpretation of the construction of radiological thresholds (for burial and health protection) through nuclear diplomacy and highlights the importance of public visibility in this process. The Palomares earth was considered nuclear or not nuclear depending on different factors, not only its radioactivity readings. In this paper I disentangle these factors and show to what extent materiality, diplomacy, and public visibility are intertwined in the construction of nuclearity.

show abstract

“…11 For a discussion of historiography on the co-production of nuclear science and diplomacy, see Ito & Rentetzi (2021). 12 Herrera Plaza (2015); Moran (2009).…”

Section: An Atomic Monument the Size Of A Football Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

A nuclear monument the size of a football field: The diplomatic construction of soil nuclearity in the Palomares accident (Spain, 1966)

Florensa

2021

Centaurus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…324-325). 7 Adamson & Lalli (2021); Jacobsen & Ols akov a (2021); Ito & Rentetzi (2021). 8 Richards & Zavale (1996); Romney (2009).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

The seismograph as a diplomatic object: The S oviet– A merican exchange of instruments, 1958–1964

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain met in Geneva in 1958 and 1959 to create the technical basis for monitoring a future nuclear test ban treaty. Despite their scientific veneer, these meetings were politically motivated and the scientists tried to forward U.S. or Soviet objectives through their technical discussions. Seismographic data was a cornerstone of the proposed monitoring regime, but when the discussions became political, so too did the instruments that produced the scientific data. Thus, seismographs became diplomatic objects used to support or challenge foreign policy objectives. After the collapse of the scientific meetings, the US distributed seismographs as diplomatic gifts to create a worldwide, U.S.‐controlled nuclear‐detection network in 1960. To exploit data from the network without supporting U.S. policy objectives, the USSR in 1961 proposed to exchange U.S. seismographs for Soviet ones, as two objects of equal value. That allowed each superpower to access the other's technology without creating bonds of mutual obligations. However, this type of inverted, object‐based diplomacy also gave scientists from international scientific organisations or small, non‐nuclear nations like Denmark a way to engage in nuclear diplomacy. When Danish scientists offered to create a connection station between the U.S. and Soviet seismic networks, they did so in full agreement with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to strengthen their policy of nuclear disarmament independently of U.S. objectives.

show abstract

“…22 Hecht (2007, p. 100). 23 For an elaboration of the term nuclear diplomacy, see Ito & Rentetzi (2021). 24 For earlier studies that shed light on the diplomatic roles of non-state actors, there is a body of literature on so-called New Diplomacy; see Kelly (2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…22 Hecht (2007, p. 100). 23 For an elaboration of the term nuclear diplomacy, see Ito & Rentetzi (2021).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See alsoMiller & Wyborn (2018).3 The essays published here are the partial result of a two-stage workshop held in Hayama, Japan in 2018, and in Athens, Greece in 2019. The first part of this two-stage workshop appears inIto & Rentetzi (2021).4 On the concept of Diplomatic Studies of Science, seeRentetzi (2019);Ito & Rentetzi (2021). The 2021 Gordon Cain Conference of the Science History Institute (https://www.sciencehistory.org/gordon-cain-conference) has named Rentetzi the Cain Conference Fellow and will introduce this new strand of research to the wider history of science community.5 Pinch & Bijker (1984).6Cowan (1983).7 Haraway (1985);Wajcman (1991);Barad (2007);Alaimo & Hekman (2008).8 Cook (2008).9 Latour & Woolgar (1979);Shapin & Schaffer (1985);Hannaway (1986);Galison (1987Galison ( , 1997;Shapin (1988);Morus (2015);Klein & Lefevre (2007).10 Star & Griesemer (1989); Rheinberger (1997); Daston (1999); Daston & Galison (2007); Smith & Findlen (2001); Ago (2013); Findlen (2013); Koeppe (2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The material culture and politics of artifacts in nuclear diplomacy

Rentetzi

Ito

2021

Centaurus

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This special issue stresses the importance of material culture in diplomatic studies of science and technology. In our studies, objects are considered powerful tokens of complexity in diplomatic encounters and of asymmetry in international relations. The contributors are committed to theorizing about the role of objects in diplomatic exchanges during the postwar period and, at the same time, the role of diplomacy in constituting the materiality of nuclear things. Our approach combines attention to the political and diplomatic nuclear history with recognition of the roles played by nuclear artifacts throughout the whole spectrum of diplomatic activities. On the whole, we argue that the material approach should be located at the center of the study of nuclear history and the diplomatic exchanges that made it possible.

show abstract

The co-production of nuclear science and diplomacy: towards a transnational understanding of nuclear things

Cited by 18 publications

References 38 publications

A nuclear monument the size of a football field: The diplomatic construction of soil nuclearity in the Palomares accident (Spain, 1966)

A nuclear monument the size of a football field: The diplomatic construction of soil nuclearity in the Palomares accident (Spain, 1966)

The seismograph as a diplomatic object: The S oviet– A merican exchange of instruments, 1958–1964

The material culture and politics of artifacts in nuclear diplomacy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About