Breathing within the Zones of Dissonance: Cape Town, Koeberg and Nuclearity

Creative Work

November 3, 2020

Neil Overy

As a researcher and photographer working on social and environmental issues, this exhibition is the culmination of specific academic, activist and artistic work I have undertaken to raise awareness of the problem of nuclear power within the context of the climate crisis.

The project examines the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and its relationship to Cape Town. It adopts historian Gabrielle Hecht’s notion of ‘nuclearity’ that explores how landscapes, spaces and objects that are/become ‘nuclear’ or are part of the ‘nuclear energy complex’ are often ‘hidden’ from citizens because of their apparent banality. And yet, like the demarcation of emergency accident zones, these spaces, places and objects are in a constant state of potentially ‘becoming’ something inimical to life. They can become inimical to life because after a serious nuclear accident various radioactive substance are released into the air that we breathe in, some of which remain dangerous for hundreds of years. For example, Iodine-131 is released which, if breathed in, accumulates in the thyroid and causes cancer. Other radiative substances that are released and cause cancer if breathed in are, among others, Strontium-90 (which accumulates in bones), and Plutonium-239 (which accumulates in blood cells and the liver).

Draconian Apartheid era legislation, the National Key Points Act (1980), restricts access to Koeberg and contributes to the culture of secrecy that pervades nuclear power in South Africa. Taking a photograph of Koeberg is technically an offence. Digital SLR with thorium lens.

Sign for the 3000ha Nature Reserve which surrounds Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. What rhetorical role does the reserve play? Does it attempt to normalise the potentially disasterous? Digital SLR with thorium lens.

22 billion litres of sea water are used to cool Koeberg every year. This heated water generally flows south where people regularly fish. Iphone camera.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and power lines with digital filter. Because we cannot sense radiation, visualisation is problematic. Digital filters can suggest what cannot be seen, heard, smelt or felt. Digital SLR with digital filter via Photoshop.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station with a background texture taken from a photograph of a wall within the Fukushima Exclusion Zone (The Fukushima Texture Pack , 2016). Digital SLR and Photoshop.

The inner ring is the 16KM ‘Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone’ to be implemented in the event of a serious accident at Koeberg. The wider rings are the exclusion zones imposed after the accidents at Fukushima and Chernobyl respectively. Google Earth Pro.

Extensive urban development within the 16KM ‘Urgent Protective Action Zone’ with 1970 declaration to restrict development in the zone. The image also shows one of the 80 Koeberg emergency sirens that are within the 16km zone. Digital SLR with overlaid text.

The absurdity of defining the ‘safe’ from the ‘unsafe’ via the 16KM ‘Urgent Protective Planning Zone’ which cuts through homes and places of work. A ‘boundary’ which also ludicrously implies that radiation moves in discreet ‘manageable’ ways and is not subject to the vagaries of wind or rain.

The absurdity of defining the ‘safe’ from the ‘unsafe’ via the 16KM ‘Urgent Protective Planning Zone’ which cuts through rich agricultural areas to the east and south east of Koeberg. A major accident at Koeberg would have devastating consequences for agricultural production in the Western Cape. Instant camera.

The Bellville Velodrome will become a ‘Mass Care Centre’ in the event of a serious accident at Koeberg. This assumes that Bellville will not be contaminated by radiation. Instant camera.

Warning sign preventing access to the shoreline to the south of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. Citizens passing the sign risk arrest and a maximum prison sentence of a year. Digital SLR.

The secrecy that surrounds Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and nuclear power more generally seen ‘through a glass darkly’ via the extreme vignette of a plastic Holga lens. Digital SLR with plastic ‘Holga’ lens.

Cape Town as seen from the boundary of the 16KM ‘Urgent Protective Planning Zone’. A major accident at Koeberg could potentially result in the evacuation and abandonment for decades, if not centuries, of major portions of Cape Town. Pinhole camera.

The myth of banality as expressed in a bench at the viewing area, Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Visitor Centre. Digital SLR with thorium lens.

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Neil Overy is a freelance researcher, writer and photographer who is particularly interested in the intersections between environmental and social justice issues. He is an historian by training, and is currently a Research Associate in Environmental Humanities South at the University of Cape Town. In recent years his research has focussed on the extractives sector, Just Energy Transitions, sanitation and nuclear power. His website, which hosts his writing and photography, can be viewed at www.neilovery.com

About Neil Overy

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