The unsustainable invisibility of nuclear: the processes of publicization the social and environmental problems from the exploitation of uranium in Caetité, BA

Abstract

The article presents the processes of publicization nuclear problems in Caetité, Bahia. Since the beginning of the operation of the uranium mining in the region in 1999, local and non-local actors have produced evidence of problems arising from the extraction of the uranium from Brazilian nuclear power plants. We discuss that this process, while constituting nuclear and uranium as a problematic situation, also transforms the actors concerned, building processes through which nuclear issues become visible. We analyze documents, technical reports, newspapers and field observation on the part of the actors involved in nuclear issues. We conclude that the demands of the actors are dependent on evidences that came out through methodological constraints similar to those produced by the mine operating company, based on monitoring and evaluation of technical data. But unlike maintaining nuclear as a black box, local and non-
local actors have exposed uranium and nuclear energy as a public problem.