Where is the Nuclear Waste? Expanding Nuclear Politics

This paper challenges International Relations (IR) scholars to take a more expansive approach to nuclear politics by calling attention to the destructive and underappreciated effects of nuclear waste, the byproduct of making, detonating, and maintaining nuclear weapons. By underscoring the significance of nuclear waste to questions of nuclear violence, we highlight the potential for interdisciplinary scholarship on nuclear waste to expand the range of analytical tools, to better contend with intersectional issues, and to provide a means to account for the ongoing violence beyond the singular event of a nuclear explosion. By accounting for the range of effects of nuclear weapons beyond testing, usage, or the threat of usage, this paper invites conversations on the destructive, worldmaking impact rendered through the nuclear age.