Author Archives: Achim Klüppelberg

Doom your optimism!

It is Summer 2025 and I am working at my standing desk in a sunny southside apartment in southern Germany. It is one of the hottest days this year. There are many hottest days these days all around Europe. In fact, there are so many hottest days all over the place that many people startContinue reading “Doom your optimism!”

NTM Article Prize 2025 Ceremony in Dresden

On 25 September, I was invited for this year’s GWMT annual meeting to Dresden, Germany. Within the halls of the German Hygiene Museum in Saxonia’s capitals I received the NTM Article Prize for Young Authors. My article “Creating Chernobyl. Technocratic Culture and Everyday Life in Nuclear Ukraine, 1970-1982” convinced the board. Naturally, I am veryContinue reading “NTM Article Prize 2025 Ceremony in Dresden”

The Hidden History of Soviet Nuclear Plans at Lake Võrtsjärv in Estonia

1967 or possibly 1972, a convoy of black Volgas navigated the winding south-Estonian roads toward Lake Võrtsjärv.1 Whether in summer, collecting dust and mosquitoes, or in autumn or spring, accumulating heavy dirt on the marshy terrain, the leather-fitted cars carried three esteemed men from the Soviet Estonian Academy of Sciences – geologist Anto Raukas, biologist Harald Haberman and energy engineer Ilmar Öpik. Accompanying them were four to six ‘Moscow people’ with plans to establish a nuclear power plant (hereafter NPP) at the picturesque site. Perhaps, as they reached the elevated banks of Vehendi, where reddish pines reached for the blue sky, the men in ominous KGB attire exchanged nods, finding the location suitable for their cutting-edge technology. Maybe, hearing the rustling reeds, they concurred with the Estonian scientists that a new 4000 MWe power plant could not be built on this shallow lake without raising temperatures to harmful levels.

ESEH 2025 Is Coming Up Soon!

From 18 until 22 August this year many environmental historians, historians of technology, artists and discussion-enthusiasts are going to meet up in Uppsala, Sweden. The European Society for Environmental History invites us to participate in this lovely city about an hour north of Stockholm. The biannual ESEH conferences are always a highlight in any historian’sContinue reading “ESEH 2025 Is Coming Up Soon!”

The Technocratic Culture Behind Chernobyl’s Disaster

Recently my new article about nuclear Ukraine was published. In this article, I am using a technocratic culture perspective to analyse what was going on at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant before that fateful night in April 1986, when reactor block four exploded.

New Publication: Exploring Chernobyl’s Connection to Dnieper Hydropower

Today my article “Joining the Dnieper Cascade. An Envirotechnical Water-History of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 1927-1986” was published online in the journal Water History. I am really happy that this was possible. You should check it out! Unsurprisingly, I am indebted to so many people who supported me during the four years this little projectContinue reading “New Publication: Exploring Chernobyl’s Connection to Dnieper Hydropower”

“Mutig, Stark, Beherzt” in Hanover. The 39th Kirchentag and My Impressions of a Crazy Week

What type of society do we want to live in? What role will religion play in it? How can I as an individual relate to current challenges of society? These and so many more questions were asked and at least partially answered at this vast event in Lower Saxony around the first of May. AboutContinue reading ““Mutig, Stark, Beherzt” in Hanover. The 39th Kirchentag and My Impressions of a Crazy Week”

The 39th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Catastrophe in a World Blind to Environmental Concerns

Unfortunately, I am getting a bit angry at society at large during these last months. Sure, there were many larger and smaller political issues that demanded time and attention from everyone. Lest we forget that there is a brutal war going on in Ukraine, Palestine, Yemen, and unfortunately many other parts of this world. ButContinue reading “The 39th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Catastrophe in a World Blind to Environmental Concerns”

The World Looks at Different Things – But We Are Still Not Forgetting Fukushima-Daiichi

Old governments go, new ones come; right-wing politicians draw one media stunt after another; Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and JD Vance take it upon themselves to reintroduce unveiled predatory capitalism (not like the US didn’t show that sort of behaviour before), destroying democracy and turning the United States more than ever into a blatant oligarchy;Continue reading “The World Looks at Different Things – But We Are Still Not Forgetting Fukushima-Daiichi”