Alicia Gutting

I am a PhD candidate in the ERC-project Nuclearwaters at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment. I hold a Diploma in Theatre, Film and Media Studies and a Master of Arts in Cultural and Social Anthropology, both from the University of Vienna. From 2010 to 2011 I did a study abroad year at La Trobe University, Melbourne and I was a visiting researcher at the English Department at Soongsil University, Seoul in 2013. Prior to KTH I worked as a junior researcher at the Institute of Technology Assessment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. My research focussed on energy system transformation, sustainable energy technologies and the diffusion of e-vehicles.

In my doctoral thesis "The Nuclear Rhine", I deal with the historical development of the nuclearisation of the Rhine and its tributaries from the 1950s until today. In that context, I pay special attention to the impacts of nuclear power plants on water and how these impacts have been socially negotiated. In my first article, I discuss the quality of drinking water and how this quality has been affected by activities of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre. In this context, I argue for a consideration of early protests of the local population in political decision-making, as these tend not to dissolve into goodwill over time. I also research the nuclearisation of river basins, the fair distribution of cooling water resources in transboundary rivers, and the impact of nuclear power plants on rivers in times of climate change.