40 Years After Chornobyl International Conference

The Not-So-Peaceful Atom: Nuclear History and Politics 40 Years After Chornobyl

April 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the world’s greatest nuclear accident. While much has been written about the catastrophe itself, this conference moves beyond the disaster narrative to examine a critical, overlooked reality: the deep interconnection between civilian and military nuclear technologies.

The Chornobyl-type RBMK reactor was born from the USSR’s graphite-moderated military designs. It was engineered not just for power, but with the capacity to produce plutonium—the primary fuel for nuclear weaponry. Today, as the war in Ukraine sees nuclear sites occupied as military outposts, the "artificial separation" between the peaceful and the militant atom has been shattered.

This conference convenes historians, sociologists, environmentalists, anthropologists, and international relations specialists to dismantle the myths of the "peaceful atom" and analyze the global nuclear order.

The conference is funded by the Foundation for Baltic and Eastern European Studies (ÖSS)