EDF R&D Engineer-Researcher
Claire Le Renard is a PhD student at the École Doctorale OMI under the direction of Pierre-Benoît Joly and co-direction of F. Brechenmacher (LinX/Polytechnique). Her work is in the field of the sociology of innovations and looks at a particular “disinnovation”: the early closure of the Superphénix, an “industrial prototype” of a specific type of nuclear technology. Based on an interview survey and the reactor’s archives, her thesis shows that the closure of the Superphénix in 1997 was made possible by its reclassification as a research facility in 1992.
After starting her career and training as an environmental engineer (X-ENGREF), she has been working since 2009 as a sociology research engineer at the Groupe de Recherche Énergie Technologie Société, in the ICAME department of EDF’s R&D division in Palaiseau-Saclay (91). Her research in the field of the sociology of science and technology looks at two subjects: firstly, innovations in the energy sector (nuclear industries, smart grid prototypes, renewable energy sources) and, more recently, the environmental and biodiversity policies surrounding these technologies. She combines questions related to future energy production and innovation technologies with social science approaches, analysing and de-centring “acceptability” issues.
Recent publications
Le Renard, C. (2018), “The Superphénix Fast Breeder Nuclear Reactor: Cross-border Cooperation and Controversies”. Journal for the History of Environment and Society, Brepols, 2018, Special Issue: Siting Nuclear Installations at the Border, 3/2018, pp.107-144. ⟨https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JHES.5.116796⟩.
Le Renard, C. (2017), “Les débuts du programme électronucléaire français (1945-1974) : de l’exploratoire à l’industriel”. Hérodote, No. 165, 2nd quarter 2017.
http://www.cairn.info/revue-herodote-2017-2-page-53.htm
Jobert, A., Le Renard, C. (2016), “Faire dialoguer scientifiques et politiques sur l’énergie nucléaire en France dans les années 1970 : deux initiatives autour du projet Superphénix”, in Beltran, A., Laborie, L., Lanthier, P., Le Gallic, S. (eds), Mondes électriques. Créations, circulations, tensions, transitions (19e-21e siècles). Editions Peter Lang, coll. Histoire de l’énergie.
https://www.peterlang.com/view/9782807600287/chapter16.xhtml
Le Renard, C. (2016), “A sociotechnical analysis of the French FBR programme: successive forms of evaluation”. Gérer et Comprendre, English online edition, 2016, No. 1.