The Making of the Antinuclear Movement in the Bay of Biscay: Similar Movements in Different Contexts

Abstract

Based on an analysis of three conflicts over nuclear power located in the Bay of Biscay, this article aims to understand the principal elements that shaped the ideology of the antinuclear movement during the period of its emergence in the 1970s and 1980s. On the basis of the cases of Lemoiz (Biscay, Spain), Deba (Gipuzkoa, Spain) and Blayais (Gironde, France), we seek to understand whether the key factor in triggering the antinuclear mobilisation was the risk posed by nuclear energy itself, or whether it is also necessary to analyse the social networks from which the movement arose to understand how its discourse was formed. Furthermore, we consider other contextual elements, such as national sentiment or the legitimacy of the state, as factors that help to understand the process of the making of the antinuclear movement.