Davide Orsini. Wasting the Mediterranean: Radioecology, Military Bases, and Nuclear Power Plants

Описание: Davide Orsini (Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Münich), Wasting the Mediterranean: Radioecology, Military Bases, and Nuclear Power Plants. 29/01/2025.

In the 1970s a series of initiatives were taken by emerging international organizations (IMO, UNEP, etc.) to regulate and contain ocean pollution. In this context, a number of Mediterranean countries agreed on a plan to assess the status of the “middle sea” and to limit the sources of pollution menacing the health of the environment and of human beings. By the time Mediterranean Action Plan (or Med Plan) came into force at the end of the 1970s, marine biologists and ecologists had monitored the levels of radionuclides present in the waters, flora, and fauna of the Mediterranean Sea as a consequence of radioactive fallout caused by nuclear atmospheric tests and due to effluents discharged by inland nuclear power plants and facilities since the 1950s.

In this talk, Dr. Orsini illustrates the early developments of radioecology and radioecological practices in the Mediterranean Sea, especially along the Italian coasts. Who were the scientists running radioecological campaigns? How did they study interested sites? What did they find? The talk will answer these and other questions, starting from Orsini’s research on the Archipelago of La Maddalena, where in the early 1970s the U.S. Navy installed a base for nuclear submarines, and contextualizing the Italian case within the broader international history of radioecology and nuclear waste disposal at sea.
This conference is brought to you by The DEEPMED Seminar: A #history forum for #ocean #science , #strategy , and #environment

The DEEPMED Seminar is organized by ERC-CoG DEEPMED-101002330. Discovering the Deep #mediterranean Environment : A History of Science and Strategy (1860-2020). Universidad de Sevilla.

Here is the calendar for 2024/25 (all times are CET):

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23/10. Nancy Ko (Columbia University, New York)
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11/12. José Carlos Cañizares (DEEPMED / Universidad de Sevilla)
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29/01. Davide Orsini (Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Münich)
Wasting the Mediterranean: Radioecology, #military Bases, and #nuclear Power Plants

19/02. Pier Luigi Pireddu (C. Interuniv. de Hist. das Ciências e da Tecnología, Lisbon)
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12/03. Stathis Arapostathis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
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11/06. Mohamed Gamal-Eldin (Rutgers, Newark)
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Production: Ada Ferraresi