RISK ZONES

Ed Alcock

In the context of the revival of nuclear energy, and against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, where nuclear installations have become military targets, the ambition is to document the daily life of the inhabitants of the «risk zones», as the territories located within a five kilometer radius of the 18 French nuclear power plants are sometimes called. Are the residents aware of the danger they face or do the reassuring words of the sector and the wealth of the communes where they live, comfort them in their choice of life?

The project focuses on five territories in order to reveal different issues:

Belleville-sur-Loire, where the wealth around the power station contrasts with the decline of the region

Tricastin, a risk zone with the highest population density in France

Blayais, where a nuclear accident was narrowly avoided following a flood caused by the storm of 1999

Penly, where the first pair of new EPRs is due to be built on the English Channel

Fessenheim, where the oldest two reactors in France’s nuclear fleet have been closed.

This photographic project was produced as part of the major national commission « Radioscopy of France: glimpses of a country affected by the health crisis » financed by the Ministry of Culture and piloted by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.