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Sep 13, 202252.519° 13.364°

Exchange on the Half Life of the Nuclear Age

The presence of critical radioactivity in environments everywhere on the planet is owed to mid-twentieth-century atomic weapon tests as well as to the ongoing use of nuclear energy and concomitant accidents. While the notion of the “Nuclear Age” evoked the idea of a legacy from the past only a few years ago, we currently face a much different nuclear situation amid ongoing geopolitical shifts and ruptures. In this session recorded during Unearthing the Present, professor of environmental radioactivity Andy Cundy and artist-writer Brian Holmes ask: What are the prospects of living among radioactive substances as military spending on atomic weapons increases and some countries invest in and maintain nuclear power on their paths to “net zero” CO₂ emissions?

With Andy Cundy and Brian Holmes. May 22, 2022. Recorded at HKW, Berlin. Please cite as: Cundy, A and B Holmes (2022) Ironies of the Anthropocene. In: Rosol C and Rispoli G (eds) Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context, Anthropocene Curriculum. Berlin: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. DOI: 10.58049/xeyp-ze05