The Most Beautiful Nuclear Power Plants in Europe

The Most Beautiful Nuclear Power Plants in Europe deals with an actual topic: how to produce energy with as little harm for the environment as possible. Nuclear power is seen as one solution, but at what price? The series shows power stations in a landscape - in a landscape with contradictions. The Most Beautiful Nuclear Power Plants in Europe is a photo series that examines power stations in the landscape from an aesthetic point of view. The main standpoint of this project is the relationship between human and nature. The contrast between the beautiful sceneries and the pompous absurdity of the power plant architecture rising from the landscape creates some visible tension in the images, not to mention industrial romanticism. Due to the risks, the power plants are not built in direct contact with large centres of population but within a “compromise distance”. However, in densely populated Western and Central Europe this means that the stations are located on an inhabited and farmed rural area, in scenic and idyllic places. For security measures most often there should not be permanent habitation in the closest proximity of the plants, but often there may be a natural park or a nature reserve. For the people living in the vicinity the plants often have become invisible, whereas for the people visiting the area a plant is absurdly visible – often a surprising, scary or fascinating sight sticking out of the environment. The prevention of climate change forces us to search for new ways of producing energy with as little carbon dioxide emissions as possible. In Finland the third reactor of Olkiluoto nuclear power plant is under construction for 13 years now and there are intentions of constructing a new station in Pyhäjoki, Northern Finland. Spain and Italy have discontinued construction of several plants due to political and environmental controversy. Germany, for instance, has decided to end the use of nuclear power by the year 2022, rushing the closure after the Fukushima accident in Japan. As other countries seem to abandon the atomic era, Finland, France and Slovakia are currently the only European countries to construct more nuclear power. Colour photographs, 100 x 100 cm.