Projects

The Glass Nuclear Power Station Project consists of a series of sculptures of nuclear power stations made from lost wax, kiln cast uranium glass. Within their black lacquered bases, the ultra-violet neon makes them fluoresce and glow a vivid green.

They comprise:
• Dounreay, in Caithness at the top of Scotland, currently being de-commissioned, and the site of the first civic use of nuclear power in the U.K.
• Sizewell A&B in Suffolk,
• Springfield
• Doel in Belgium
• Small Dounreay & Medium Dounreay

The project represents three themes:
• the vitrification of nuclear waste as a way of dealing with the nuclear legacy;
• the theme of radiation, natural and that which has been tampered with by man;
• and the concentration in our contemporary minds as to our energy resources and where they will be coming from now and in the future.

We wanted to celebrate these post war monuments to cheap unlimited power. They act as eulogies to collective human desire and its consequent disenchantment. In their de-commissioning they are being eradicated from the landscape but their legacy lives on in our imaginations and memories, and specifically with the issue of nuclear waste.
In our researches we found that radiation is necessary to existence. Uranium is a naturally occurring mineral: it is only when enriched that it becomes a highly dangerous substance.
We have used uranium glass, otherwise known as vaseline glass. This has been used as a safe colourant for glass since the mid 19th Century. It has the particular property of emitting a bright acid lime green when lit with ultra violet light. These sculptures emanate a glowing light, both unsettling and attractive, which somehow represents our complicated relationship with radiation.

Originally made for EAST international 2006, with support from the Arts Council’s grants for the arts programme, and Northlands Glass, they have been shown both in the U.K. and abroad. Medium Dounreay was shown in the Royal Academy Summer show in 2007 and subsequently was purchased by the National Museums of Scotland and is on permanent display in Edinburgh.