Atomic Trust(s)
Christian Götter · 2025
Relationships of trust between citizens, experts, politicians, administrators, and the industry in Stade and Torness are at the centre of Atomic Trust(s) . The chapter analyses the importance of locally based but regionally and even (trans-)nationally connected networks of trust striving for the support of the people on the spot, mainly by pointing to their own – or their opponents’ lack of – transparency. It shows that pro-nuclear networks enjoyed structural advantages in both countries but fared differently because of their differing, specific national characters. In Germany, tight-knit local nodes based upon personal relationships were often able to frame critique as “outside influences” and to keep it away from the local communities. They were, however, somewhat brittle and susceptible to disruption. In Britain, on the other hand, rather loose institutional networks were relatively open to critique and critics. Those could even be incorporated, at times turning critics of the technology into proponents, thereby avoiding a tribalisation of the conflict.