Suspending failure: temporalities, ontologies and gigantism in fusion energy development

Alexander, Catherine

Abstract

Tracing the history of terrestrial fusion energy to a giant multinational experimental fusion facility under construction reveals a series of consequential failures, re-evaluations of once defunct designs, but also persistence. To account for how this vast enterprise, dogged by failure, endures, I suggest different ontological narratives re-orientate the enterprise temporally and vis-à-vis different forms and valences of failure. Thus the rhetoric of mission-driven project vies with that of open-ended, present-focused experiment; the former is positioned as the crucial solution to the threat of climate change; the latter ‘bakes in’ virtuous failure as integral to creative practice. Visionary promise moves to the meanwhile. Finally, the sheer unfurling size to which attention is constantly drawn offers a disorientating spectacle, denying perspective or closure and acting to suspend judgments of failure.

Citation

Alexander, C. (2023). Suspending failure: temporalities, ontologies and gigantism in fusion energy development. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 29(S1), 114-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13905

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 6, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 10, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-04
• Deposit Date: Dec 7, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 29, 2023
• Journal: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
• Print ISSN: 1359-0987
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9655
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: S1
• Pages: 114-132
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13905
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1187478