On Tuesday 11 June NUCLEARWATERS project member Alicia Gutting successfully defended her PhD thesis at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, entitled “The Nuclear Rhine: Conflict and Cooperation in a Transnational River Basin.” Alicia has been a doctoral student at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment since October 2018, devoting herself to the exploration of nuclear energy along the Rhine and the Aare.
Alicia Gutting’s dissertation exemplifies how the water and nuclear energy sectors are intricately and interdependently entwined. The relationship between water and nuclear energy is being examined specifically in the Rhine River basin from the 1950s to the contemporary period. In a longer introductory essay and four separate research articles, the thesis scrutinizes the complex interaction between nuclear development and water management in riverine settings. The study gains particular relevance in the context of climate change, which heightens the environmental impact of nuclear power plants that source their cooling water from rivers and the vulnerability of such plants to extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. Employing a transnational and interdisciplinary approach, Alicia’s research challenges conventional national narratives and underscores the significance of cooperative and shared resource management along the Rhine.
Two of the four articles have already been published:
- Gutting, Alicia, and Per Högselius. “Nuclearized River Basins: Conflict and Cooperation along the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.” Historical Social Research 49, no. 1 (2024): 92-125
- Gutting, Alicia. “What is good drinking water? 41 Years of risk perception on water quality in the vicinity of the Nuclear Research Centre Karlsruhe, 1956–1997.” Risks Hazards & Crisis Public Policy 14, no. 4 (2023): 1-23.
The two other articles are available in preliminary form only, as they are still in the publication process.
At the public PhD defence, we were delighted to that Jan-Henrik Meyer from the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory accepted our invitation to serve as the faculty opponent. The examination committee consisted of Zahra Kalantari from KTH’s Water Centre, Elisabetta Bini from the University of Naples Federico II and Stephen Milder, who is currently at the Rachel Carson Center in Munich. Lize-Marie Hansen van der Watt, in her capacity as chairperson, moderated the event. The defence was followed by a reception at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment.
NUCLEAR WATERS 