Nuclear remains on temporalities, responsibilities, and values Başak Saraç- Lesavr

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saraç-Lesavre, Başak, author.

Series:

Inside technology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radioactive waste disposal--United States.

Radioactive waste disposal.

Radioactive waste disposal--Government policy--United States.

Radioactive waste disposal--Government policy.

United States.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Masschusetts The MIT Press [2026]

Summary:

"An ethnography of U.S. nuclear waste policy, and how to understand contemporary societies’ attempts to establish “good” relations with the future. Contemporary societies are often criticized for their incapacity to account for the long term. Nuclear Remains asks what happens when a society decides to think long term—examining the US efforts to hold present and distant futures together. Focusing on the case of the US nuclear waste program, Başak Saraç-Lesavre argues that no temporal orientation is inherently ethical; what matters is how temporal orientations construed as desirable get translated into action.To analyze how concerned actors seek to establish “good” relations between past, present, and future, Saraç-Lesavre introduces the problem of rendez-vous framework—tracing how temporal gaps are identified and resolutions formulated and inscribed in different forms of arrangements. Her multisited ethnographic research takes readers from Congressional debates over funding—to reconcile accountability to and immunity from politics—to Carlsbad, New Mexico, where local actors have been trying to keep their community attached to nuclear futures. Over time, these arrangements face tests. They are barely ever considered au rendez-vous when meeting contemporary conditions, yet they produce significant effects: material, economic, political, and moral relations, and ultimately, societies themselves. This framework applies broadly to cases where temporal relations are at stake: climate change adaptation, government of commons, pension schemes, energy transition, and care systems"-- MIT Press Direct

Contents:

The nuclear waste fee : containing indefinite responsibilities

Enacting “good” temporal relations through discount rates

The nuclear waste fund : immune from and yet accountable to political institutions

Death by budget : the abandonment of Yucca Mountain during a “nuclear renaissance”

Valuing nuclear waste futures : the making of America’s nuclear corridor

Entrepreneurial displacements : yes in our backyard and the reimagining of nuclear waste futures

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (MIT Press Direct, viewed June 3, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version Saraç-Lesavre, Başak Nuclear remains

ISBN:

9780262052870

0262052873

9780262052863

0262052865

OCLC:

1592870157

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license

Some versions Open access versions available from some providers open access