Lecture series

The lecture series takes place every summer semester in addition to the IZWT colloquium and is always dedicated to a specific topic of public interest. In addition to external guests, scientists from the University of Wuppertal also give lectures. The lecture series takes place in the city centre of Elberfeld and is aimed not only at an academic audience but also at interested members of the public.

 

 

 

Summer term 2026: Nuclear caesuras? Interdisciplinary perspectives on 40 years of Chernobyl & 15 years of Fukushima

In view of concerns about the safety of the Chernobyl sarcophagus during the Russian war of aggression, the ongoing search for final storage sites for radioactive waste and the debate about new nuclear power plants as a supposed building block of climate protection, this year's lecture series - on the occasion of the anniversaries of the two largest reactor accidents in history - asks how nuclear disasters have shaped the international handling of nuclear power plants and the use of nuclear energy to this day.
The four lectures approach the topic from different perspectives: From a historical perspective, they will look at the development of Soviet nuclear policy from armament to "peaceful" use, at social perceptions in dealing with ageing nuclear power plants in the UK and Germany, and at the possibilities and limitations of the IAEA as an international organisation in dealing with nuclear safety. From a political science perspective, the focus is on the German nuclear phase-out after Fukushima and the question of which political mechanisms characterised the reaction in Germany.

Talks