ABSTRACT
A characteristic feature of political discourse is that it changes over time as new knowledge and understanding of issues emerge and as the actors involved in the discourse move on and or new actors become involved. The result is to enable coalitions of new alliances to emerge in a discourse with the potential to produce a new hegemony. In this chapter, questions are posed about the extent to which this has taken place in the nuclear energy discourse within the European Union since the 1950s. It is argued that energy security continues to hold the hegemonic position in the discourse and that, rather than being superseded by an alternative discourse, since the mid-2000s it has become increasingly linked with discourse on climate change, which has given the use of the technology a new credibility and acceptance.
