The First Nuclear Industry: Radioisotopes, State and Society - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Rapport (Rapport De Recherche) Année : 2017

The First Nuclear Industry: Radioisotopes, State and Society

Résumé

This report is structured in three sections. In the first section, we present a general historical background narrative about the antecedents of radioisotope-related R&D before the Second World War and of the post-war developments leading to the establishment of a radioisotope industry. In this narrative, the focus will be on American developments, as the United States constitutes the most important player in the production of and the research with these materials. Indeed, these have been the developments that have received most attention in the historical literature. The following section focuses on the history of European radioisotope industries. This part is the more innovative part of this report, as the history of European radioisotopes has never been studied comprehensively. We will approach this analysis from a comparative point of view, which will focus on four different countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain. The choice of these countries is mainly based on the availability of historical secondary sources. In any case, these countries represent a good combination of major players of the radioisotope market (France and the UK), an important nation in the industrial uses of radioisotopes (Germany), which is at the same time politically interesting because of its Cold-War related political division, and finally a scientifically and politically “peripheral” actor (Spain), that can help to contrast with democratic countries. Unfortunately, we will leave out of our study some countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, which became major players in the radioisotope market, as well as the Soviet Union/Russia and all East European bloc. In each case, a description of main events in the development of radioisotope production and use is provided, as well as an analysis of the public perception based on the analysis of the press coverage of radioisotopes. This study is supplemented by an account of IAEA efforts in radioisotope research which can help to discuss transnational developments. The focus on the IAEA is based on the fact that the Agency became the main actor in the configuration of the field since the 1960s. Finally, the last section of the report provides a comparative analysis of the pattern of development of radioisotope industries and societies in Europe, allowing to empirically checking the basic hypothesis of this report.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Herran_Grevsmuhl_First_Nuclear_Industry_Radioisotopes.pdf (2.46 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Publication financée par une institution
Loading...

Dates et versions

hal-01824590 , version 1 (27-06-2018)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01824590 , version 1

Citer

Néstor Herran, Sebastian Grevsmühl. The First Nuclear Industry: Radioisotopes, State and Society. [Research Report] CNRS; UPMC; EHESS. 2017. ⟨hal-01824590⟩
163 Consultations
175 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More