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Short abstract

SMRs are promoted as low-carbon solutions to rising energy demand from digital transformations. Focusing on Austria and Ireland, this paper examines how SMR promises enter debates in non-nuclear states and how nuclear residues are addressed to make nuclear futures politically plausible.

Long abstract

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are increasingly promoted as innovative, flexible, low-carbon technologies capable of supporting climate goals while responding to rising electricity demand. A key driver behind these promises is the rapid expansion of digital infrastructures –particularly data centres and Artificial Intelligence applications– which will require vast and stable energy supplies. As a result, nuclear options such as SMRs enter policy discussions even in countries that have historically positioned themselves as non-nuclear energy states –in my case Austria and Ireland. Yet nuclear innovation inevitably raises a persistent question: what kinds of radioactive residues accompany these technologies, and how are they addressed in these debates?

Focusing on Austria and Ireland, this paper examines how SMR promises travel into national discussions and reopen debates about nuclear futures. It asks: how are nuclear residues assembled –or not– as matters of concern and care within these narratives? Drawing on a comparative analysis of governmental communications, regulatory documents, and media framings, the paper explores how nuclear residues are problematized, minimized, deferred, or reframed in SMR debates and how this is balanced against the promises of innovation. Particular attention is paid to how existing nuclear waste is framed as a legacy issue, while the residues associated with SMRs are repositioned as manageable through technological innovation or future solutions.

The analysis forms part of the ERC Advanced Grant project *Innovation Residues* (GA 10105480; PI: Ulrike Felt) and highlights the regimes of (in)visibility through which nuclear residues are reconfigured in efforts to make new nuclear futures politically plausible.