Abstract Summary
Different authors have highlighted that invisibility, doubt or ignorance are not natural states of the population, simple absences of information or knowledge, but the outcome of active and effortful cultural and political processes. This paper argues that science diplomacy has played a crucial role in the processes involved in making invisible nuclear risk. To do so, it focuses on a nuclear accident that took place in Spain, 1966. Four nuclear bombs fell onto a town on the South coast, Palomares, due to a crash between two US Air Force planes. Two of the bombs leaked their radioactive content contaminating wide areas of the territory. I will argue that a key part of the diplomatic strategy adopted to solve this crisis focused on making invisible radiation risk in the public domain. Minimizing public attention to the accident was listed, in scientific and military reports of the accident, as a strong argument during diplomatic negotiations. It justified decisions regarding radioactive protection of the inhabitants and security measures of the clean-up actions. The public campaign to render nuclear risk invisible influenced the popular perception of nuclear risk, but not only this: it also had epistemic effects. The criterion of minimizing public attention shaped also the negotiations on levels and methods of decontamination. At the diplomatic table, scientists from US and Spain had to agree on the decontamination methods and on the levels at which various types of decontamination actions would be taken.
