Vincent Ialenti

Last updated

Vincent Ialenti
Born
Gardner, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education
Occupation Anthropologist
Employer(s) Office of Nuclear Energy, United States Department of Energy
Notable workDeep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now (2020)

Vincent Ialenti is an American anthropologist who studies the culture of nuclear energy and weapons waste organizations. [1] He is the author of Deep Time Reckoning, [2] an anthropological exploration of how experts assessed the potential impact of Finland's Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository on future ecosystems and civilization. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Ialenti has been on the research faculty at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs [6] [7] and has held fellowships at the University of Southern California, [8] the University of British Columbia, [9] The Berggruen Institute, [10] and Cornell University's Society for the Humanities. [11]

Ialenti currently works for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, [12] [13] advising leadership on efforts to implement more environmentally just and consent-based approaches to siting spent nuclear fuel facilities. [14] [15] He is also a Research Associate in California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt's Department of Environmental Studies. [16]

Biography

Ialenti holds a BA in "Philosophy, Politics, and Law" from Binghamton University, an MSc in "Law, Anthropology, and Society" from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Cornell University. [17] [18] At Cornell, Ialenti taught an interdisciplinary writing seminar called Nuclear Imagination: Technology and Worlds. [19] [20]

In 2017, Ialenti became the first anthropologist with a feature article in Physics Today , the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physics. [21] [22] Later that year, Helsingin Sanomat published a front-page human interest story about his anthropological search for insights left behind by an enigmatic nuclear waste expert he called Seppo. [23] [24]

In 2018, Ialenti was a Nuclear Security Innovation Network Fellow in the N Square Collaborative, a nuclear threat awareness collective funded by the Carnegie Corporation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Ploughshares Fund. [25] He also served on the U.S. Membership Committee of Northwestern University's trans-Pacific think-tank Meridian 180. [26]

From 2017 to 2019, Ialenti conducted a field study exploring the political, economic, and organizational drivers behind transuranic nuclear weapons waste "drum breach" accidents at Idaho National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. [27] [28] [29] He developed this study in collaboration with geologist Allison Macfarlane, the former Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [30]

MIT Press and Penguin Random House published Ialenti's first book, Deep Time Reckoning, in 2020. [31] The book examined Finnish nuclear waste company Posiva's efforts to make reductive, pragmatic models of far future societies, bodies, and ecosystems—and how their efforts were enabled by the Finnish populace's relatively high levels of trust in geotechnical engineers, regulators, and ministry experts. [32] [33] [34]

In 2021, Ialenti became the first cultural anthropologist with an article published in the American Nuclear Society's technical journal Nuclear Technology. [35] [36] Later that year, Ialenti was featured alongside ambient musician Brian Eno in a Headspace meditation podcast about long-term thinking. [37]

In 2023, Ialenti helped spearhead the U.S. Department of Energy's Consent-based Siting Consortia: a group of twelve transdisciplinary project teams - drawn from academia, nonprofits, and the private sector - awarded $24m to facilitate public engagement and build community capacity for siting a federal consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. [38] [39] [40] [41]

Personal life

Ialenti is married to conservationist Allegra Wrocklage. [42] They reside in Los Angeles, California, after having moved from Vancouver, Canada. [43]

Ialenti is an Associate of the Long Now Foundation in San Francisco, California. [44]

Books

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References

  1. ↑ Solomon, Barry D. (March 25, 2021). "Solving a Wicked Problem in Deep Time: Nuclear Waste Disposal". Science and Engineering Ethics. 27 (2): 21. doi:10.1007/s11948-021-00299-5. ISSN   1471-5546. PMC   7993412 . Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  2. ↑ Svoboda, Michael (January 22, 2021). "12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate change". Yale Climate Connections. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  3. ↑ Hamblin, Jacob Darwin (November 27, 2020). "Learning to think long-term Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now Vincent Ialenti MIT Press, 2020. 208 pp". Science. 370 (6520): 1043. doi:10.1126/science.abf2843. ISSN   0036-8075. S2CID   227171422. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  4. ↑ Super, James (October 2021). "Delving in to deep time". Nature Geoscience. 14 (10): 710–711. Bibcode:2021NatGe..14..710S. doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00831-z. ISSN   1752-0908. S2CID   238262214. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  5. ↑ "A million years into the future: why you need a dose of very deep thinking". Physics World. February 22, 2021. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  6. ↑ George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs (2022). "Active Faculty 2021-2022" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti featured in Science Magazine". elliott.gwu.edu. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  8. ↑ "2021-2022 USC Berggruen Fellows > Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences". dornsife.usc.edu. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti Archives". School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Berggruen Fellows Aim to Reinvent Governance, Imagine Radically Different Futures for Global Systems and Institutions - News". Berggruen Institute. August 12, 2022. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti on his new book, Deep Time Reckoning | Society for the Humanities". societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu. August 27, 2020. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Office of Integrated Waste Management Overview" (PDF). Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. March 28, 2023.
  13. ↑ "TITRATION: Radioactive Waste, Princeton, & the Navajo Nation". Anthropology@Princeton. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  14. ↑ American Anthropological Association, Anthropology Live Webinar (December 6, 2022). "Consent-Based Siting: Social Science & Nuclear Waste Management at the U.S. Department of Energy". YouTube .
  15. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti | A&S Departments". anthropology.cornell.edu. Archived from the original on March 30, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti | Environmental Studies". enst.humboldt.edu. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Future Forums: Deep Time Paradigm". Museums Victoria. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  19. ↑ Adams, Rod. "Fukushima: Time Bomb Or Training Device?". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Fall 2016 First-Year Writing Seminars | John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines". knight.as.cornell.edu. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  21. ↑ Ialenti, Vincent (October 1, 2017). "Death and succession among Finland's nuclear waste experts". Physics Today. 70 (10): 48–53. Bibcode:2017PhT....70j..48I. doi: 10.1063/PT.3.3728 . ISSN   0031-9228. S2CID   158875146.
  22. ↑ "Ialenti is First Anthropologist with a Feature Article in Physics Today | A&S Departments". anthropology.cornell.edu. October 12, 2017. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  23. ↑ Ialenti, Vincent (June 2020). "Spectres of Seppo: the afterlives of Finland's nuclear waste experts". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 26 (2): 251–268. doi:10.1111/1467-9655.13247. ISSN   1359-0987. S2CID   216336421.
  24. ↑ "Eräänä kesäiltana Seppo kaatui ja kuoli – se oli vakava paikka, sillä tämä raivokas nero yksin tiesi kaiken siitä, miten Suomen ydinjäte haudataan turvallisesti". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). November 12, 2017. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti". N Square. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  26. ↑ "Forum Summary: Theologies and Ecologies for the 21st Century". Meridian 180. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Historical Society Dives Into LANL's Infamous Kitty Litter Drum". ladailypost.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  28. ↑ Ialenti, Vincent (July 2022). "Boiling sand, metallic fire: Technopolitics and temporal form in an Idaho nuclear waste accident". American Ethnologist. 49 (3): 387–400. doi:10.1111/amet.13089. ISSN   0094-0496. S2CID   250232581.
  29. ↑ Ialenti, Vincent (June 2021). "Drum breach: Operational temporalities, error politics and WIPP's kitty litter nuclear waste accident". Social Studies of Science. 51 (3): 364–391. doi:10.1177/0306312720986609. ISSN   0306-3127. PMID   33413044. S2CID   231195443. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  30. ↑ ""Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now" Book Talk by Dr. Vincent Ialenti". School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Deep Time Reckoning by Vincent Ialenti: 9780262539265 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  32. ↑ Hartley, Julie (May 24, 2021). "The Time and space for Earthly reckoning is here and now - Anthropology Book Forum". Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  33. ↑ Pasqualetti, Martin J. (August 25, 2021). "DEEP TIME RECKONING: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now". Geographical Review. 113 (2): 290–292. doi:10.1080/00167428.2021.1972674. ISSN   0016-7428. S2CID   238699622. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  34. ↑ "Endlager für Atommüll - Wer will den radioaktiven Abfall vor der Haustür?". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). July 13, 2022. Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  35. ↑ Verma, Aditi (September 2, 2021). "The Nuclear, Humanities, and Social Science Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities for Speaking Across the Disciplinary Divides". Nuclear Technology. 207 (9): iii–xv. Bibcode:2021NucTe.207D...3V. doi: 10.1080/00295450.2021.1941663 . ISSN   0029-5450. S2CID   236953228.
  36. ↑ Ialenti, Vincent (September 2, 2021). "Mankala Chronicles: Nuclear Energy Financing and Cooperative Corporate Form in Finland". Nuclear Technology. 207 (9): 1377–1393. Bibcode:2021NucTe.207.1377I. doi:10.1080/00295450.2020.1868890. ISSN   0029-5450. S2CID   233606034. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  37. ↑ "The Long Time Academy". the-long-time-academy.simplecast.com. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  38. ↑ "Consent-Based Siting Consortia". Energy.gov. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  39. ↑ U.S. Department of Energy (2023). "Consent Based Siting Consortia Kickoff Webinar". YouTube .
  40. ↑ U.S. Department of Energy (2023). "Consent-Based Siting Consortia Virtual Open House". YouTube .
  41. ↑ U.S. Department of Energy (February 16, 2024). "Consent-Based Siting Consortia Listening Session". YouTube .
  42. ↑ Scullion, Grace (July 27, 2022). "Couples are saying 'I do' on coast once more". Half Moon Bay Review. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  43. ↑ Wrocklage, Allegra (November 17, 2021). "Fires, Droughts, and Birds: August on Interstate 5". Upstream Tech. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022.
  44. ↑ "Vincent Ialenti". Long Now. May 31, 2022. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
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