[Themaintainers] Talk: Bernadette Bensaude Vincent "Nuclear Waste Management as a form of Maintenance" (Maintenance & Philosophy SIG, Thursday May 15th 2025, 18-1915 UTC+1)

[mark young]

Dear All,

(apologies for cross-posting)

We’re pleased to announce the next session of the SPT maintenance and
philosophy of technology special interest group on Thursday 15th May
(18-1915 UTC +1). In this session, we’re excited to welcome Bernadette
Bensaude Vincent (Panthéon-Sorbonne University) who’ll be sharing her
research examining the management of nuclear waste by French nuclear
agencies through the lens of maintenance. Those already familiar with Prof.
Vincent’s work, which examines the history and philosophy of materials
science and chemistry, will no doubt be aware of the extent to which her
interests resonate with those of maintenance and repair scholarship.
Thursday’s talk will therefore be a valuable opportunity to delve deeper
into the relationship between the concepts of maintenance and waste
management, which we’re very much looking forward to! If you'd like a link
to the talk, email me at mark at markthomasyoung.net

Best,
Mark

*“Nuclear Waste Management as a Form of Maintenance"*

Bernadette Bensaude Vincent (Panthéon-Sorbonne University)


Thursday 15th May 2025 (18-1915 UTC +1)

*Abstract: *This paper is based on the case study of two French nuclear
agencies – Orano in La Hague (Normandy) and Andra in Bure (Moselle). I will
argue that their strategies of management of nuclear waste can be seen as a
form of maintenance. This claim may seem paradoxical at first sight. The
high activity and obduracy of nuclear waste demonstrate their resistance
and recalcitrance which are in stark contrast with the fragility and
vulnerability of technological objects and infrastructures conveyed by
maintenance studies. Yet, the concept of maintenance is appropriate to
characterize the way of problematizing the future in the management of
nuclear waste. The project for the deep disposal of long-lived nuclear
waste in the Andra industrial pilot site of Bure (Moselle) mainly consists
in anticipating the maintenance of the disposal site over thousands of
years. As for the nuclear facility for the short-term storage of nuclear
waste in La Hague, it can be compared with the intensive care units in
hospitals. It is  the imperative of care -care for the present and  for the
future – attached to nuclear waste that calls for the rapprochement with
maintenance.


(In order to avoid confusion regarding the timing of the talks - the
following table clarifies when the talk begins in different locations)
Amsterdam 7:00pm
London 6:00pm
Toronto (New York) 1:00pm
San Francisco 10:00am

Mark Thomas Young
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Oslo
https://uio.academia.edu/MarkThomasYoung

*Remaining Schedule for 2025*

Aaron Perzanowski (University of Michigan) June 12th 2025 (18-1915 UTC+1)

“The Law and Policy of Repair”



Mark Thomas Young (University of Oslo) August 22nd 2025 (18-1915 UTC+1)

“Taking Things Apart: Clips, Glues, and Pentalobe Screws”



Tim Juvshik (Middlebury College) September 11th 2025 (18-1915 UTC+1)

“Social Practices and the Maintenance of Artifacts”



Chuck Wooldridge (Lehman College) October 9th 2025 (18-1915 UTC+1)

“Maintenance as Religious Practice in Taiwan”



Diane Michelfelder (Macalester College) November 13th 2025 (18-1915 UTC+1)

"Neighborhood Circles of Giving and the Ethics of Everyday Repair”



Mace Ojala (Ruhr University) & Marisa Cohn (University of Copenhagen)
December 11th 2025 (18-1915 UTC+1)

“Software Maintenance as Materialization of Common Knowledge”
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