title: Imaginaries of nuclear energy in the Portuguese parliament: Between promise, risk, and democracy.
abstract: This article explores the evolution of the nuclear energy debate and its associated controversies in the Portuguese parliament. The analysis focuses on the dictatorial regime of the New State (from the beginning of the nuclear program in 1951 until the 1974 revolution) and on the democratic period (post-1974). Portugal, as an exporting country of uranium minerals, significantly invested in the development of a national capacity in nuclear research, but never developed an endogenous nuclear power infrastructure. Through the analysis of parliamentary debates, this article characterizes the dynamic evolution of the Portuguese sociotechnical imaginary on nuclear energy and technology interlinked with ambivalent representations, including the promise of nuclear energy as key for the constitution of a technological Nation or as prompting new sociotechnical risks.
authors: University of Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: Tiago
authors: T
authors: Santos Pereira
authors: University School of Arts of Coimbra, Portugal; University of Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: António
authors: A
authors: Carvalho
authors: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
authors: Paulo F C
authors: PF
authors: Fonseca
mesh_terms: D003709:Democracy; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D009678:Nuclear Energy / Q000266:history*; D055848:Nuclear Power Plants / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011057:Politics; D011174:Portugal; D011639:Public Opinion; D011640:Public Policy / Q000266:history*; D012306:Risk
keywords: energy policy; governance of science and technology; nuclear energy; participation in science policy; representations of science