Publications

2026

Articles

• Vallejos-Romero, A., Cisternas, C., Mellado, A., Cordovés-Sánchez, M., Lehtonen, M. & Sáez-Ardura, F. 2026. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Latin America: topics, problems, and challenges. Sociología y Tecnociencia 16(2): 73-98.
• Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M., Vainio, A. & Litmanen, T. 2026. From Promises to Practice: Finnish Cities as Testbeds for Just SMR Implementation. Politics and Governance 14, Article 12305.
• Lehtonen, M., Litmanen, T., Kojo, M. & Husu, H.-M. 2026. Between the Off-the-Ground and the Locally Bound: SLO and the Technoscientific Promise of Small Modular Reactors. In: Górski, J., Mete, G. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Social License to Operate and Energy Transitions. Palgrave Studies in Energy Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
• Husu, H.-M., Litmanen, T. & Lehtonen, M. 2026. Ydinvoiman kytkös ydinaseteollisuuteen vahvistuu (The link between nuclear power and the nuclear weapons industry is strengthening). Politiikasta: Ajankohtainen ja ajaton tiedeverkkolehti. 12 May 2026.
• Lehtonen, M., Husu, H.-M. & Litmanen, T. 2026. Pienydinvoimaloiden kehittäminen on kallista (Developing small nuclear power plants is expensive). Op-ed in Helsingin Sanomat, 13 March 2026.

Conference presentations

• Kojo, M. Money Talks: The Economic Institutionalisation and Materialisation of the SMR Promise in Finland and Sweden. Workshop "Reimagining Europe’s Energy Systems: From Energy Pasts to Energy Futures", 7-8 September 2026, Copenhagen.
• Husu, H.-M. The Making of Sustainability Transitions with (false) Promises: The Case of SMRs and Their Counter-promises. The 17th European Sociological Association Conference "Strengthening Democracies: Social Action, Solidarity, and Sustainable Futures", Warsaw, 25-28 August 2026.
• Lehtonen, M. Les multiples fonctions de la promesse des SMR: Canada, Finlande, France, et Royaume-Uni comme exemples. Présentation à l’ASNR, Paris, le 26 mai 2026.
• Lehtonen, M. The multifunctionality of the SMR promise: examples from Canada, Finland, France, and the UK. Presentation at the 4th AT-OM Workshop: Technology, Economics, and Geopolitics of Nuclear Power, Berlin, 21 May 2026.
• Kojo, M. Pienydinvoima oikeudenmukaisessa energiasiirtymässä (Small nuclear reactors in a just energy transition). Helsingin luonnonsuojeluyhdistyksen keskustelutilaisuus: Pienydinvoimala -puhdas, turvallinen, varma ja joustava? Kriittisiä näkökulmia Helsingin ydinvoimalakeskusteluun. 13 May 2026, Helsinki.

• Lehtonen, M. Civil-military synergies and the construction of the legitimacy of the SMR promise in France and the UK. Conference: “The not-so-peaceful atom: nuclear history and politics 40 years after Chornobyl”, Södertörn University, Stockholm, 27-28 April, 2026.

​​​Seminars and workshops organised by the project

• Session “The more-than-now nuclear power”, at the EASST 2026 conference, Kraków, 8-11 September 2026. Conveners: P. Högselius, M. Lehtonen & F. Bakken.

2025

Articles 

• Husu, H-M., Talala, R., & Kojo, M. 2025. The Impact of Three Crises on the Hegemony of Finland's Nuclear Power Elite. Scandinavian Political Studies 48(4), e70021
• Survillo, I., & Kojo, M. 2024. Energy trilemma in times of crisis. The changing sociotechnical imaginaries of nuclear energy in Finland and Poland. In: Kalis, M. (Ed.) The Energy Trilemma in the Baltic Sea Region Security, Equity and the Environment. Routledge. Explorations in Energy Studies.
• Kiviluoma, N., Savela, N. & Kojo, M. 2025. Exploring gender insights on the perceived safety and acceptability of small modular reactors. Energy Strategy Reviews 62, 101882.
• Lehtonen, M. 2025. Vers un « retour à la bougie » ? Le nucléaire face à ses « fossoyeurs ». In: Teulières, L., Hagimont, S. & Hupé, J-M (eds.), Greenbacklash. Qui veut la peau de l’écologie ? Seuil, collection Ecocène.

• Kojo, M., Tornberg, S., Lehtonen, M., Litmanen, T., Kiviluoma, N. & Kari, M. 2025. Residents' opinions on the options for managing nuclear waste from SMRs: The case of the four largest cities in Finland. International Conference on the Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors 2024, Conference proceedings. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Conference presentations

• Kojo, M. Political, Social and Cultural Aspects of final disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Finland, 7th Meeting of the Interdisciplinary Working Group “Long-Term Technological Projects”, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 18 December 2025, Berlin, Germany.
• Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M., Husu, H.-M. & Litmanen, T. Historical examples in the construction of the legitimacy of a nuclear promise in Canada, France, and the UK: Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) as an alternative or a complement to nuclear megaprojects? Södertörn university on-line seminar, 28 November 2025.
• Lehtonen, M. How failed techno-scientific promises shape current hopes for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Post-Atomic Formations: Dealing with the Legacies of Nuclear Power in Science, Society, and the Environment. Workshop, Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, Munich, November 20–21, 2025.
• Lehtonen, M. Le nucléaire face à ses « fossoyeurs »: perpétuer la promesse technologique en déconsidérant les opposants. Toulouse, 12 November 2025.
• Kari, M., Tornberg, S., Litmanen, T., Kojo, M. & Lehtonen, M. Constructing SMR Futures: Media Debate Specificities in Finland and Sweden. ESA RN12 'Environment and Society' mid-term and 'Energy and Society' network 7th joint conference. Kaunas STS 24-25 September 2025.
• Litmanen, T. Lehtonen, M. & Kojo, M. Geological Knowledge, Institutions and Materiality in the Construction of the Promise of Safe Geological Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel in Finland. BASE Research Symposium safeND 2025: ”Time as a safety factor: Opportunities and challenges of timely nuclear waste disposal”, 17-19 September 2025, Berlin.
• ​​​​​Lehtonen, M. Historical precedents (de)constructing the legitimacy and credibility of the SMR promise in Canada, France, and the UK. Presentation at the ECOSENS conference, Milan 9 September 2025.
• Lehtonen, M. How nuclear promises are made credible and legitimate: historical examples of SMRs, fast breeders, and megaprojects in Canada, France, and the UK. Presentation at the ESEH conference, Uppsala, 20th August 2025.
• Husu, H-M. & Kojo, M. The Impact of Geopolitical Crises on the Hegemony of Nuclear Power Elite in Finland: A Neo-Gramscian Approach. EUROPE-ASIA Connectivities in geopolitical times, Seoul National University, South Korea, 15-16 May, 2025.
• Lehtonen,  M. How Nuclear Promises are Made Credible and Legitimate: Historical Examples of SMRs, Fast Breeders, and Megaprojects in Canada, France, and the UK. Presentation at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. May 8, 2025​​​​​​​

​​​Seminars and workshops organised by the project

• Atomic Past and Futures. Panel session series at the 7th Nordic STS Conference, “STS in and out of the Laboratory”, June 11-13, 2025, Stockholm.​​​​​​
• Roundtable: Nuclear Energy in an Age of Crisis and Turmoil. 7th Nordic STS Conference, “STS in and out of the Laboratory”, June 12, 2025, Stockholm.​​​​​​​

2024

Articles

• Vainio, A. & Kojo, M.. 2024. Pienydinvoima oikeudenmukaisessa energiasiirtymässä (Small nuclear reactors in a just energy transition). In: Oikeudenmukainen siirtymä Suomessa 2025 (A just transition in Finland 2025), Korhonen, J.M. (ed.). Into Kustannus. pp. 297-333.
• Lehtonen, M. 2024. Nuclear promises and the virtues and vices of optimism and pessimism: the example of the EPR reactor in Europe. Entreprises et Histoire 114(1): 120-139.
• Kojo, M., Litmanen, T., Kari, M. & Kiviluoma, N. 2023. Mitkä periaatteet ohjaavat mahdollisten pienydinvoimaloiden ydinjätehuoltoa? Suurten kaupunkien asukkaat kannattavat keskittämistä (Which principles guide the management of waste from the possible small nuclear reactors? The residents in large cities favour centralisation). ATS ydintekniikka 52(4): 30-34.
• Lehtonen, M. 2024. Taking stock of the SMR promise. Nuclear Engineering International. January. Pp. 18-21.

Conference presentations

• Lehtonen, M. 2024. Are small modular reactors (SMRs) an effective response to the problems of mega nuclear energy projects? An examination of techno-scientific promises, decision-making & public controversies. UCL OMEGA centre seminar, London, 27 November 2024.
• Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M., Litmanen, T. & Kari, M. 2024. Regulation as an obstacle or an enabler of the SMR promise. Diverging industry and regulator views. The International Conference on SMRs and their Applications. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, 21-25 October. Paper IAEA-CN-327/363.
• Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M., Litmanen, T., Husu, H.-M., Kari, M. & Tornberg, S. 2024. Constructing the legitimacy and credibility of a nuclear promise: Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Canada, France, the UK, and Finland. International conference “Nuclear revival and legacies”, Paris, 21-22 October 2024.
• Lehtonen, M. 2024. The Ambiguity of Techno-scientific Promises: Nuclear Technologies as Drivers of Change and Guarantees of Continuity in France. Tensions of Europe conference, Frankfurt an der Oder, 19-21 September 2024.
• Kari, M., Tornberg, S., Litmanen, T., Lehtonen, M. & Kojo, M. 2024. The Emergence of the Promise of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors in the Leading Finnish and Swedish Daily Newspapers. The 16th European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference, Porto, 27-30 August 2024.
• Kojo, M., Käis, M. & Lehtonen, M. 2024. Public Involvement in the Planning of the Possible Small Modular Reactors. The 16th European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference, Porto, 27-30 August 2024.
• Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M., Litmanen, T., Husu, H.-M., Kari, M. & Tornberg, S. 2024. Constructing the legitimacy and credibility of a nuclear promise: Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Canada, France, and the UK. The 16th European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference, Porto, 27-30 August 2024.
• Lehtonen, M. 2024. The power of promise: Small Modular Reactors blurring the boundaries between pro- and antinuclearism, (eco)modernism, and degrowthism. Presentation at the 10th International Degrowth Conference and the 15th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, Pontevedra, Spain, 21 June.
• Lehtonen, M. 2024. Participation in a roundtable “The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Historical Perspective”, Teknik- och vetenskapshistoriska dagar 2024, Stockholm, 13 June. Convenors: Per Högselius, KTH, Stockholm & Markku Lehtonen, UPF, Barcelona.
• Kojo, M., Tornberg, S., Lehtonen, M., Litmanen, T., Kiviluoma, N. & Kari, M. 2024. Residents' opinions on the options for managing nuclear waste from SMRs: The case of the four largest cities in Finland. The International Conference on the Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors 2024. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, 10-14 June 2024.
• Lehtonen, M. 2024. Invited presentation at the 10th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities in Ionising Radiation Research, RICOMET, Ljubljana, 10 June.
• Husu, H.-M. & Kojo, M. 2024. The impact of crises on the hegemony of nuclear power elite in Finland: A Neo-Gramscian approach. Presentation at the Workshop “Co-production of techno-scientific promises: communities, institutions, and materialities”, 16th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference, NESS 2024, Turku, Finland, 4-6 June.
• Kojo, M., Käis, M. & Lehtonen, M. 2024. Presentation at the panel “Osallisuuden rajat kestävyysmurroksessa”, the Annual Sociology Conference of the Westermarck Society, Kuopio, Finland, 21-22 March.
• Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M., Kari, M. & Litmanen, T. 2023. (De)politicization through safetization? Decision-making on nuclear waste management in Finland and France. Interdisciplinary Research Symposium on the Safety of Nuclear Disposal Practices - safeND 2023, Berlin, 13-15 September 2023. Vol. 2, p. 269.

Seminars and workshops organised by the project

• “Co-production of techno-scientific promises: spaces, institutions, and communities”, at the 35th International Geographical Conference, Dublin, 24-30 August 2024. Conveners: Lehtonen, M. & Husu, H.-M.
• “Co-production of techno-scientific promises: communities, institutions, and materialities". Workshop 19 at the 16th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference, NESS 2024, Turku, Finland, 4-6 June. Conveners: Lehtonen, M., Husu, H.-M., Kojo, M. & Litmanen, T.

2023

Articles

• Kojo, M., Tornberg, S., Kari M., Vainio A., Litmanen, T. & Lehtonen M. 2023. Naapuriksi pienydinvoimala? ATS Ydintekniikka 52(1): 24-28.
• Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M., Kari, M. & Litmanen, T. 2023. Institutionalizing a promise: The case of small modular reactor regulation in Finland. 2023 19th International Conference on the European Energy Market (EEM), 6-8 June 2023, Lappeenranta, Finland. Pp. 1-6.

Conference presentations

• Kojo, M. 2023. Kansalaisten luottamus ydinjätteen loppusijoitukseen. Tekniikan päivät, Energiaturvallisuus ja yhteiskunta, Helsinki, 11-15 January.
• Husu, H.-M. & Kari, M. 2023. The making of the future with expectations and techno-scientific promises. Panel session at the Annual Sociology Conference of the Westermarck Society, Tampere, Finland, 23-24 March.
• Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M., Kari, M., Litmanen, T. 2023. Institutionalizing a promise: The case of small modular reactor regulation in Finland. Conference “Fostering action with narratives”, Riga, 30 March.
• Lehtonen, M. 2023. Techno-scientific promises and (anti)nuclear communities: Small Modular Reactor promises in five countries. Presentation at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 20 April.
• Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M., Kari, M. & Litmanen, T. 2023. Institutionalizing a promise: The case of small modular reactor regulation in Finland. 2023 19th International Conference on the European Energy Market (EEM), Lappeenranta, Finland, 6-8 June.
• Lehtonen, M. 2023. Constructing techno-scientific promises via constructive mistrust: framework for analysis and illustrative examples from the nuclear sector. FINT Workshop 2023, "Trust within and between organizations", Helsinki, 14-17 June.
• Litmanen, T., Lehtonen, M., Kari, M. & Kojo, M. 2023. Controversies over techno-scientific promises as societal risk assessment: debates concerning the small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in Canada and Finland. The 31st Annual SRA Conference “Risk Assessment in a Changing World”, Lund, 18-21 June.
• Lehtonen, M., Kari, M. & Litmanen, T. 2023. The Promise of Small Nuclear Reactors: Constructing and Deconstructing a Nuclear Renaissance in Canada and Finland. XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, 25 June - 1 July.
• Husu, H.-M. & Kojo, M. 2023. The Impact of Crises on the Hegemony of Nuclear Power Elite in Finland: A Neo-Gramscian Approach. XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, 25 June - 1 July.
• Kari, M., Kiviluoma, N., Lehtonen, M., Litmanen, T. & Husu, H.-M. 2023. Small Modular Reactors and the Spatial Distribution of Risk: Local Perceptions on the Novel Decentralised Model of Nuclear Energy Expansion in Canada and Finland. XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, 25 June - 1 July.
• Kari, M., Litmanen, T., Kojo, M. & Lehtonen, M. Technological hype, promises and expectations: Discussion on Small Modular Reactors in Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) in 2000-2022. Session "The making of (un)sustainable futures through socio-technical promising" at the 9th EUGEO Congress, 4-7 September, Barcelona.
• Lehtonen, M. 2023. The Promise of Small Modular Reactors: Recent trends and examples from Canada and Finland. REFORM group (Restructuring Energy Systems for Optimal Resource Management) seminar, Raitenhaslach, Germany, 10 September.
• Husu, M.-M. & Kojo, M. 2023. The impact of crises on the hegemony of nuclear power elite in Finland: A Neo-Gramscian approach. Conference “Energy Transitions in Times of Crisis”, Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University, Stockholm, 21-22 September.
• Lehtonen, M. 2023. Constructing techno-scientific promises through(out) history: On the historical underpinnings of today’s nuclear promises. Conference “Energy Transitions in Times of Crisis”, Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University, Stockholm, 21-22 September .
• Lehtonen, M. 2023. The Promise of Small Modular Reactors as a sustainability transition technology. Seminar presentation at the Eindhoven University of Technology, 12 October.
• Lehtonen, M. 2023. La promesa de los pequeños reactores nucleares (SMR) para transiciones energéticas – y más allá… Seminar presentation at the Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile, 10 November 2023.

Seminars and workshops organised by the project

• Techno-scientific promises of nuclear energy in the past and present: Finnish and Swedish perspectives. Researcher workshop. Stockholm, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, 25 May.
• Techno-scientific promises of nuclear energy and small modular reactors: Finnish and Swedish perspectives. Researcher and stakeholder workshop. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 26 May.
• Lehtonen, M. & Litmanen, T. 2023. The making of (un)sustainable futures through socio-technical promising. A session at the 9th EUGEO Congress, 4-7 September, Barcelona.

• Reforming nuclear safety regulation: Current challenges in the light of history. Witness seminar. Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Barcelona 14-15 December.

2022

Articles

• Kojo, M. 2022. "Geopolitiikan riskit haastavat yhteiskunnan kokonaisedun". Kaleva, 19 March 2022.
• Kojo, M. & Husu, H.-M. 2022. ”And Rosatom is certainly a very good partner also for Fennovoima - how the Finnish MPs justified the Russia-connection in nuclear policy” (in Finnish). Politiikasta, 6 June 2022.
• Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M., Litmanen, T. & Kiviluoma, H. 2022. “We have a solution”: Transforming the promise of national responsibility for nuclear waste management. TATuP - Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice 3, 31-36. Special Issue “The future of high-level radioactive waste disposal: What are the developments? What are the challenges after a site selection?”
• Lehtonen, M. 2022. Building promises of small modular reactors—one conference at a time. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 22, 2022.
• Kojo, M. & Vainio, A. 2022. Lu­va­tus­ta ydin­voi­man pi­ris­tys­ruis­kees­ta on jäl­jel­lä hakattu Han­hi­ki­vi. Kaleva, December 23, 2022.

Conference presentations

• Kojo, M., Kiviluoma, N., Litmanen, T., Husu, H.-M., Kari, M.& Lehtonen, M. 2022. Opponents and supporters of SMR: The case of district heating in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. Presented at the Nuclear Energy Ecosystems – Open Business Day 2022, "Building nuclear energy future together", 3-4 May 2022, Helsinki.
• Kojo, M., Kiviluoma, N., Litmanen, T., Husu, H.-M., Kari, M. & Lehtonen, M. 2022. Public participation in the planning of Small Modular Reactor projects: Residents’ views in the Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland. Responsible Business Research Seminar, 16-17 March 2022, Tampere, Finland.
• Husu, H.-M. 2022. Communities of Promise Concerning Energy Futures in Social Science Research on Energy. Poster presented at the 3rd International Conference on Energy Research & Social Science, "Energy and Climate Transformations", Manchester, 20-23 June 2022.
• Lehtonen, M. 2022. Techno-scientific promises and (anti)nuclear communities: Small Modular Reactor promises in Canada and Finland. Paper presented at the 25th REFORM group meeting, "Energy Transformation and Climate Challenges", Salzburg, 3-6 October 2022.
• Kojo, M. & Surwillo, I. 2022. Energy trilemma at times of crisis: The changing promises of nuclear energy in Finland and Poland. IFZO Workshop, Greifswald, 20-21 October 2022.
• Kojo, M., Litmanen, T., Kiviluoma, N. & Tornberg, S. 2022. A Small Modular Reactor next door? Opinions of Finnish-speaking residents of the Helsinki metropolitan area concerning a possible SMR unit. Nuclear Science and Technology Symposium 2022 (SYP2022), Helsinki, 1–2 November 2022.
• Kojo, M., Tornberg, S. & Vainio, A. (with Airola, M. & Gotcheva, N.) 2022. Societal acceptability of SMR plants: Residents’ opinions in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. EcoSMR Final Seminar, Helsinki, 23 November 2022.
• Vainio, A. 2022. Abandoned nuclear town: Residents’ expectations of the impacts of building a nuclear power plant in the municipality of Pyhäjoki, Finland. Networking seminar, Rauma, 30 November 2022.
• Lehtonen, M. 2022. Sustainability promises and optimism: from modernist megaprojects to presentist small modular reactors? Presentation at the workshop “Nuclear Renaissance: Technology, Society and Sustainable Development”, University of Basel, 15 December 2022.​​​​

Seminars and workshops

• The techno-scientific promises of nuclear energy in the past and present: Finnish and Spanish perspectives. Researcher workshop. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Humanities, 21 November 2022.