The Nuclear Dream. The Disappearing World of Atomic Energy

Since 2011, the German government has been implementing a policy phasing out nuclear power. Over a period of seven years, Bernhard Ludewig photographed the country's atomic landscape and history, keeping a visual record of the buildings and the work performed in them. The images, collected here, create a unique panorama of usually inaccessible spaces. On show are the plants' operations — processes including the opening of the reactor and the loading of Castor containers for transport — and interiors, such as control rooms and cooling towers. The book follows the journey of uranium from enrichment through reprocessing to final storage, and shows research spanning from Otto Hahn's discovery of fission to thorium and breeder reactor prototypes. In total 55 sites are represented, and images of research reactors, training facilities, and Chernobyl's sarcophagus provide a further look behind closed doors. The Nuclear Dream offers an insight into a disappearing world whose rooms and technology often appear sacred. It is a fitting tribute to an era of boundless energy — one whose blue glow captured a generation and proclaimed the start of a new era.