Seeing the unseen: The Chernobyl imprint on the Hungarian public sphere

• Date: 01 November 2019
• Published date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1931
• Author: Mariann Fekete,Gabor Sarlos

ACADEMIC PAPER

Seeing the unseen: The Chernobyl imprint on the Hungarian

public sphere

Gabor Sarlos

1

|Mariann Fekete

2

1

Discipline Lead Professional

Communications, School of Communication

and Design, RMIT University, Ho Chi Minh

City, Vietnam

2

Department of Sociology, University of

Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

Correspondence

Gabor Sarlos, Discipline Lead Professional

Communications, School of Communication

and Design, RMIT University, 702 Nguyen Van

Linh Blvd., District 7, 7000 Ho Chi Minh City,

Vietnam.

Email: gabor.sarlos@gmail.com

This research article analyzes the influence of the “Chernobyl factor”on the nuclear

power discourse in Hungary. Despite its temporal distance, the geographical proxim-

ity of the Chernobyl disaster has significantly influenced the lives and perceptions of

current Hungarian generations. The research examines two layers of public communi-

cation regarding the Chernobyl disaster—political discourse and Hungarian online

news media—and matches these with the online representation of the catastrophe.

This study finds that despite Chernobyl's significant impact on the cultural memory

of Hungarian society, it is considered an event of the past with limited relevance

for the future. The contemporary representation of Chernobyl reflects the aspirations

and expectations of current society, manifests highly mediatized content, nurtures

elements of infotainment, symbolizes danger and negligence, and socially

reconstructs meaning through alienation from its original connotation. The Chernobyl

factor does not appear significantly in current nuclear discourse in Hungary.

1|INTRODUCTION

Hungary is pursuing an ambitious nuclear development program, with

plans to double its nuclear power capabilities within a decade (World

Nuclear Industry Status Report, 2016). With a valid parliamentary

decision and the firm commitment of the government, the preparation

of the expansion program is underway. Defying a wide range of

criticism and opposition, the project is envisaged to be concluded

between 2024 and 2025.

This research investigates the extent to which the representation

of the Chernobyl disaster connects to any discourse regarding the

nuclear capacity expansion plans in Hungary. This study analyzes

whether the Chernobyl catastrophe, the largest nuclear accident to

date,

1

has any influence on public thinking today—some 32 years later.

Does the “mental radiation”of the accident have an impact on the per-

ception of nuclear issues, and potentially, on shaping nuclear policies?

Are political and public discussions influenced by the Chernobyl

disaster and its presence in the collective memory of Hungarians?

This study hypothesizes that the Chernobyl disaster is no longer

significantly present in Hungarian public discourse on nuclear energy

and has no impact on the perception of nuclear energy. The contem-

porary online representation of the Chernobyl accident is analyzed

to verify this hypothesis. In the wider context, this research contrib-

utes to our understanding of how perceptions of technologically

complex issues impact the public consciousness. Moreover, it can fur-

ther extend the discourse on how experiences of the past shape the

thinking about the future in the field of technology and industrial

development.

1.1 |Background

Nuclear energy is essential to Hungary's energy production, with over

50% of the country's electric power generated by the Paks nuclear

power plant (World Nuclear Industry Status Report, 2016). The four

reactors of the Paks plant provide Hungary with a concentrated

nuclear power capacity. Based on the recent lifetime extension of its

reactors, the Paks plant would face closure in the mid‐2030s. How-

ever, the government has announced plans to maintain and even

increase the plant's nuclear capacity by building two new on‐site

1

Together with the Fukushima accident in 2011, Chernobyl is the only nuclear incident that

has been classified as a major accident according to the International Nuclear and Radiological

Event Scale of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Received: 14 January 2019 Accepted: 23 February 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1931

J PublicAffairs. 2019;19:e1931.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1931

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1 of14