The "Dragon of Kovachitsa": Local Perceptions of Radioactive Pollution Near the Kozlodui Nuclear Power Station (Bulgaria)

There is continuing uncertainty surrounding the safety of nuclear power stations in Eastern Europe, among them the one at Kozlodui, Bulgaria. It is argued in this paper that attempts on the part of the state to assert the safety of nuclear power stations are expressed in terms of an official “nuclear-safe” discourse, while the local inhabitants near the Kozlodui nuclear power station employ a vernacular mode of expression to explain possible radioactive pollution.