Paper short abstract:

France is one of the nations that uses nuclear energy most. This research focuses on local people and their activities. What do they say about the effect of such an industry in the territory?

Paper long abstract:

France is one of the nations that uses nuclear energy most. Most research in the social sciences in France has studied the notion of risk, and the communication process of the industry. This presentation of Water and Energy in the Dordogne Valley, south-west of France, shows the results of a long-term research in the field, upstream with the people who live around five large dams producing hydroelectricity, and more recently downstream on the river basin, the Gironde, near a nuclear powerplant that was built 40 years ago. This research focuses on the local people and their activities related to natural resources in their family businesses. How the economy and the social relationships were transformed when the powerplant was built? What they say about such an industry? The interviews were collected with the official archives of the local government. The narratives are told by the first generation whose lives were transformed by these energies that started to run in the XX° century and have deeply changed the landscape, the environment and the local economy.