URANIUM (English)
Panoramic view of the nuclear power plant of Ascó (Tarragona - Spain). The nuclear power plant is placed on the shores of the river Ebro.
When the man learned to control the fire undertook a road that has led us to the doors of the nuclear fusion. It is in technology in what the human being has found his biggest ally against the weakness of his nature and technology is our best option to liberate us of our material limitations. At the same time, the use of the current technology implies a few very important risks that cannot be ignored, for what the human being, in his daily struggle for the survival, before the need to generate and to transport more and more energy to avoid losing this struggle, faces to a challenge that it does not have previous in the history of the Humanity. The tension between the need and the prudence, between the audacity and the fear, is synthesized in the nuclear power plants as in no other technological object.
Uranium is a photographic project on the nuclear energy and his civil use. The images that shape the project are photos of the Spanish nuclear power plants with which the author wants to highlight a topic practically taboo at present in some countries: the nuclear energy and the need that our society has of this type of energy.
Panoramic view of the nuclear power plant of Lemoniz with the sea in its background (Biscay – Spain). From the beginning the construction of the plant caused a great social opposition, up to the stage of paralyzing its works just before the plant started functioning.
Panoramic view of the Vandellos nuclear power plant at dawn (Tarragona - Spain). This nuclear power plant is located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Panoramic view of the nuclear power plant of Trillo (Guadalajara – Spain).
Panoramic view of the nuclear power plant of Ascó (Tarragona - Spain) from which it is possible to appreciate the two nuclear reactors of the plant beyond the river.
Panoramic view from which it is possible to appreciate a detail of the nuclear power plant of Ascó at the right and the Ascó town at the left, in its background (Tarragona – Spain).
Panoramic view of the Vandellos nuclear power plant (Tarragona - Spain). Cambrils city can be seen in the background.
Panoramic view of the nuclear power plant of Trillo (Guadalajara – Spain). It was planned to construct a second nuclear reactor (Trillo II) but the project remained paralyzed despite of having the support of the town council of Trillo.
Uranium does not display arguments to favor nor against the nuclear power. Uranium is an artistic and documentary proposal that uses the graphical language to provide a different experience from the nuclear power plants; an aesthetic experience that enters contradiction with the negative load that in society of some countries drags this type of energy.
With the series of photos that shape Uranium the author tries that images attract attention because of its aesthetic qualities even of those persons opposite to the nuclear energy, and they could not avoid acknowledging these qualities despite having an entire arsenal of arguments against this energy.
The author thinks this vision of the nuclear power plants, this aesthetic experience free of negative prejudices of the nuclear power stations, can contribute to rationalize the debate on the nuclear power in some countries.
Cooling towers of the nuclear power plant in Trillo. The water vapor could cause greenhouse effect bigger than CO2 but it's not the case because stays much less time in the atmosphere than CO2.
Cooling towers of the nuclear power plant from Trillo behind the village church.
Field of sunflowers on the surroundings of the nuclear power plant of Trillo (Guadalajara - Spain). What is seen in this photo, from the field of sunflowers up to the nuclear power plant, is a product of the human technology.
Nuclear power plant of Lemóniz (Biscay – Spain). The nuclear power plants are thermal machines that transform the energy contained in the nucleus of the atoms into electricity power. To achieve this they need a high temperature focus (the nuclear reactor) and other one at a low temperature (the sea, in the case of the Lemóniz nuclear power plant, the water of a river or of a reservoir in the case of other nuclear power plants).
Detail of the nuclear power station of Lemoiz (Biscay - Spain). Presently, the facilities are abandoned and vegetation has grown freely on the outside of the compound.
Nuclear power plant of Lemóniz (Biscay – Spain). Detail of the metallic fence surrounding the compound.