Uranium:The Road to “Economic Self-Sustainability for Greenland”? Changing Uranium-Positions in Greenlandic Politics

• Main Author: Bjørst, Lill Rastad
• Other Authors: Fondahl, Gail, Wilson, Gary N.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2016
• Subjects: Uranium; Greenland; Tolerance; Mining; Arctic; Energy; Development; Social license to operate; Sustainability; greenlandic
• Online Access: https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/8366a4d1-b96f-442c-9fac-4d4443790c2f; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46150-2_3; http://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319461489

How did the government of Greenland in just a few weeks take on a clear pro-uranium position in the eyes of the industry? I introduce a case study of the production of tolerance towards the mining of Greenland’s uranium as developed in the recent political debate about resource development, and particularly, uranium, and to the knowledge practices which help to legitimize varying arguments in the debate. The concept of sustainability is often mentioned in the debate but is given radically different meanings by different actors. In this study I question how these different meanings inform various political strategies, in the context of increased global attention to the possibility of the industrial development of one of the world’s last underground treasures.