Florian is a sociologist in Science and Technology Studies (STS) with a prime research interest in nuclear energy and uranium mining in particular. Part of his work has focused on the materiality of uranium mines, understanding why some uranium mining projects trigger public controversies while others do not.
For the last few years, he has tried to find ways to understand why uranium mining is largely not considered a nuclear activity, even though inherent health impacts for miners and the wider public are now widely documented. He has been focusing on the ways the toxicity of these mines is understood and then translated into policies or guidelines drawn by key institutions, influencing the -diverse- governance of uranium mining across the world.
Since early 2023 and as part of the EURATOM funded project ‘ECOSENS’, He has been working on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and the vision portrayed by SMRs developers that these advanced reactors will alleviate the nuclear waste problem. He has also been analysing the motivational factors (economics, social concerns, safety, waste characteristics,…) informing SMRs design choices in the UK.
In parallel, he has a profound interest in environmental sociology and the understanding of socio-ecological relations within the capitalist regime. Using marxist theory he has worked on environmental paradoxes observed in the extraction of materials deemed necessary for the green technology revolution (rare earth elements). In this strand of his work he tries to explain why extraction operated under capitalism will likely exacerbate the environmental footprint of the mining industry, casting doubts on the plausibility of a so called ‘green capitalism’.