More Than a Replica: Exhibiting Nuclear Energy through the Model of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract This article investigates the history of displaying nuclear energy from the 1980s to the present by tracing the cultural biography of a scale model of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which operated in Lithuania between 1983 and 2009. By reconstructing the model’s trajectory, from its initial role as a promotional exhibit in Soviet-era industry showcasing to its contemporary status as an artifact of nuclear cultural heritage, the study highlights a shift in the politics and practices of exhibiting the atom, as well as evolving theoretical frameworks and cultural discourses surrounding nuclear energy. The author argues that the model’s movement through industrial, technological, artistic, and heritage domains, along with its diverse functions, has rendered it a techno-political actor that, alongside human and institutional agents, plays a significant role in shaping the dynamics of nuclear culture.