Touring the nuclear sublime: Power-plant tours as tools of government

Going on a guided tour in a nuclear power station doesn't sound like a first choice for a holiday destination. The mere mention of such an excursion often triggers reactions ofsurprise and sarcasm ('You can actually visit these places?l 'Did you come out glowing?'). Indeed, many people ignore the fact that most nuclear stations are open to visitors, whether through information centres, guided tours or open days. In France, the electric utility company Électricité de France (EDF) has long been 'the most visited company', with more than 400,000 visitors every year. The largely state-owned company has always been a leading actorl in the promotion of so-called 'industrial tourism' (Otgaar 2010) and tompany visits' (Morice 2006), conferring to nuclear power plants a central part in the touristic display of the natiois fleurons de I'industrie ('industrial jewels'). In Great Britain, nuclear stations have had information centres since their early days, but most of them closed in the 2000s because of British Energyb financial troubles and anti-terrorist restrictions. Guided tours and visitor centres eventually reopened in 2013, four years after EDF Energy (EDF's subsidiary in the UK) took control of British Energy and its eight nuclear power plants. They are today one of EDF's main public-relations