Open AccessTHE FISH IS IN THE WATER AND THE WATER IS IN THE FISH: Symbiosis in a Nuclear Whale Fall
Author(s) -
KALSHOVEN PETRA TJITSKE
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
cultural anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.669
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1548-1360
pISSN - 0886-7356
DOI - 10.14506/ca37.2.11
Subject(s) - materiality (auditing) , whale , nuclear decommissioning , fish <actinopterygii> , nuclear weapon , fishery , west coast , political science , oceanography , engineering , biology , law , geology , philosophy , aesthetics , waste management
The nuclear site of Sellafield in West Cumbria, North West England, embarks on a long period of decommissioning. Sellafield Limited (SL), the government‐owned company running the site, is intent on disentangling the strong socioeconomic and affective relations with its host area with a view to making West Cumbria less dependent on SL, the area's major employer, as the company prepares for a slow withdrawal. Comparing West Cumbria to a whale fall, the habitat that comes into being around the nourishing presence of a decomposing whale carcass, I suggest that West Cumbria has feasted on Sellafield through different stages of nuclear activity, from its production of plutonium down to the long‐life materiality of its nuclear legacy wastes. From this perspective on a symbiotic relationship, dependency is shown to be not a one‐sided reality but a discursive tool wielded by both the industry and West Cumbrians for different strategic purposes.