The Nuclear Waters of the Soviet Union: Achim Klüppelberg defends his PhD thesis

On 22 March 2024, NUCLEARWATERS project member Achim Klüppelberg successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, entitled “The Nuclear Waters of the Soviet Union: Hydro-Engineering and Technocratic Culture in the Nuclear Industry”.

Achim has been a doctoral student at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm since October 2018, and his PhD thesis is an integral part of the NUCLEARWATERS project. The thesis is a “compilation thesis”, consisting of a longer introductory essay and six separate texts, of which one is a book manuscript and five take the form of shorter articles:

1. The Soviet Nuclear Archipelago: A Historical Geography of Atomic-Powered Communism (co-authored with Per Högselius)
2. “Completely Original and Progressive”. How Gidroproekt Combined Hydraulic and Nuclear Expertise at the South Ukraine Energy Complex
3. Joining the Dnieper Cascade. An Envirotechnical Water-History of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 1950–1986
4. Creating Chernobyl. Technocratic Culture and Everyday Life in Nuclear Ukraine, 1970–1982
5. Water, Fish, and Contamination in Chernobyl’s Cooling Pond
6. A Fishy Tale of the Nuclear Power Plant Never Built in Estonia. An Envirotechnical History of Energy, Fish, Land and Water Resources Planning at Lake Võrtsjärv (co-authored with Kati Lindström)

We were delighted that Melanie Arndt from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg in Germany accepted our invitation to act as the faculty opponent. Melanie, who is professor of economic, social, and environmental history and has published extensively on Chernobyl, did a fantastic job in presenting and critiquing the 500+ pages of Achim’s PhD thesis. Then the examination committee, consisting of Florence Fröhlig from Södertörn University, Laurent Coumel from the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris, and Viktor Pál from the University of Ostrava, showered the respondent with additional questions for about one hour. Several people in the audience commented that the defense was unusually stimulating, and expressed their admiration for Achim’s ability to calmly respond to and discuss all issues raised.

After the formal event and the examination committee’s unanimous decision to give the thesis a “pass” (in the Swedish system there is only a pass/fail grading), all guests were invited for a lively reception at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment.