Résumé
À travers le monde, 165 réacteurs sont à l’arrêt définitif et plus d’une centaine d’entre eux devraient arriver en fin de vie dans les prochaines années. De nombreux articles axés sur les aspects socioéconomiques de la fermeture des sites nucléaires ont souligné l’opposition suscitée par la disparition des centrales nucléaires. Toutefois, peu de recherches se sont intéressées à la question de leur reconversion territoriale.
Cet article questionne les effets des héritages territoriaux à la lumière des dynamiques de reconversion de deux centrales nucléaires : Brunsbüttel en Allemagne et Barsebäck en Suède. La fermeture et la reconversion de la centrale allemande semblent avoir généré peu de débats socio-territoriaux à l’échelle locale. Au contraire, la centrale suédoise suscite de nombreuses revendications sociopolitiques et des controverses quant à sa reconversion.
La comparaison des trajectoires territoriales ces deux centrales nucléaires foncièrement différentes permet ainsi d’enrichir la discussion sur les facteurs qui influencent les trajectoires postnucléaires des territoires.
Across the world, 165 reactors have been permanently shut down and more than one hundred are expected to be decommissioned in the near futur. Many regions will therefore be faced with the issue of land redevelopment. Many papers addressing the socio-economic impact of closing nuclear sites have underlined the opposition triggered by the disappearance of nuclear activities. However, few studies have focused on the redevelopment of the land this entails. This article addresses the effects of redeveloping the land through the reconversion process of two nuclear power plants: Brunsbüttel in Germany and Barsebäck in Sweden. The closure and reconversion of the German plant seems to have stirred little debates on the local level concerning social and land redevelopment issues. To the contrary, the Swedish plant led to much socio-political polemic and controversies regarding its reconversion. A comparison of the territorial outcome of these two fundamentally different nuclear power plants contributes to enrich the discussion on the factors that impact the post-nuclear outcome of land redevelopment.
Across the world, 165 reactors have been permanently shut down and more than one hundred are expected to be decommissioned in the near futur. Many regions will therefore be faced with the issue of land redevelopment. Many papers addressing the socio-economic impact of closing nuclear sites have underlined the opposition triggered by the disappearance of nuclear activities. However, few studies have focused on the redevelopment of the land this entails. This article addresses the effects of redeveloping the land through the reconversion process of two nuclear power plants: Brunsbüttel in Germany and Barsebäck in Sweden. The closure and reconversion of the German plant seems to have stirred little debates on the local level concerning social and land redevelopment issues. To the contrary, the Swedish plant led to much socio-political polemic and controversies regarding its reconversion. A comparison of the territorial outcome of these two fundamentally different nuclear power plants contributes to enrich the discussion on the factors that impact the post-nuclear outcome of land redevelopment.