An initiative discusses a videotape in which a group of activists portrays themselves and their work against the "nuclear power mafia." After argumentatively and polemically confronting the economic and political power of the energy industry, the activists call for the shutdown of escalators to counteract people's electro-paralysis.
With a wealth of fantastic archive footage and a series of revealing interviews with those who had first-hand experience, filmmaker Vicki Lesley tells the turbulent story of the West’s love-hate relationship with a nuclear power over the past seventy years. Capturing both the tantalising promise and the repeated disappointments of this singular technology, the film reveals how the post-war, romantic fantasy of an Atom-powered future developed into the stormy, on-off relationship still playing out today. A tale of scientific passion and political intrigue all wrapped up in the packaging of a sentimental screen melodrama.
In April 1977, the small coastal town of Seabrook, New Hampshire became an international symbol in the battle over atomic energy. Concerned about the dangers of potential radioactive accidents, over 2,000 members of the Clamshell Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups, attempted to block construction of a nuclear power plant. 1,414 people were arrested in that civil disobedience protest and jailed en masse in National Guard armories for two weeks.
Wolsong: Vanishing Town
With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, Nuclear Now explores the possibility for the global community to overcome the challenges of climate change and energy poverty to reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth’s crust hold incredibly concentrated energy. Science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines. The United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid-20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in part by coal and oil interests.
On April 26, 1986, a 1,000 feet high flame rises into the sky of the Ukraine. The fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant just exploded. A battle begins in which 500,000 men are engaged throughout the Soviet Union to "liquidate" the radioactivity, build the "sarcophagus" of the damaged reactor and save the world from a second explosion that would have destroyed half of Europe. Become a reference film, this documentary combines testimonials and unseen footage, tells for the first time the Battle of Chernobyl.
Nuclear power plants are not exactly sold on the same scale as wheat, but that they can be manufactured as an exportable commodity is well illustrated in this film. For those familiar with nuclear power generation, and even for the lay audience, this is a lucid exposition of how a nuclear power plant is put together. The film shows the machining and assembly of principal components, and the "on power" operation of the Canadian plant at Pickering, Ontario. Produced by the NFB for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.
This film shows the exacting procedures used during the 1970 replacement of the calandria in the NRX nuclear reactor at Chalk River. Produced by the NFB for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Since the first film was made explaining the power of the atom, nuclear technology has made great advances. This film is an up-to-date account of the many areas of nuclear research and recent developments in Canada. It was filmed at the long-functioning atomic reactors at Chalk River and Rolphton, and at the latest and largest atomic power station at Pickering, as well as at laboratories across the land where experimentation is carried out in both pure and applied nuclear science. Produced for the NFB by Crawley Films Ltd. for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.
An outstanding factor in the efficiency of the CANDU reactor employed in Canadian nuclear power stations is that its construction allows for refuelling while the plant remains in operation, with no necessity for periodic shut-downs. Filmed at the Pickering, Ontario, station, this film clearly illustrates the processes and the advantages of this Canadian feature. Cutaway models and animated drawings are used in the demonstration.
Atom and its energy
In this thrilling documentary, indomitable women fight back against the nuclear industry to expose one of the biggest cover-ups in US history: the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown and its aftermath. The film reveals the never-before-told stories of four intrepid homemakers who take their case all the way to the Supreme Court, and a young female journalist who's caught in the radioactive crossfire.
Farmers and parents of young children, who live in the Harrisburg, Pa., area, discuss their fears of radioactive contamination from the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident in 1979. Scientists and physicians also expound on the lethal dangers of nuclear power and the risks in containment processes.
A narrated account of Atomic Energy of Canada's plan to construct permanent nuclear waste storage facilities in the geological formations of the Canadian Shield. Commissioned to Westminster Films Limited by the National Film Board for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment.
About the question of whether we should proceed in developing and using nuclear power and the breakdown at Three Mile Island, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in March 28, 1979.
Who is Kim Yo-jong? In a context of maximum tensions between North Korea and the United States, Pierre Haski paints an unprecedented portrait of the little sister of Kim Jong-un, whose influence in Pyongyang is growing stronger day by day.
Using only archive film and a new musical score by the band Mogwai, Mark Cousins presents an impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times – protest marches, Cold War sabre-rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima – but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how x-rays and MRI scans have improved human lives. The nuclear age has been a nightmare, but dreamlike too.
Is nuclear energy the solution to the climate crisis? Whether it is the only carbon-neutral technology capable of tackling the crisis or a fatally convenient stopgap, time is running out.
Explores the consequences of uranium mining in Canada. Toxic and radioactive waste pose profound, long-term environmental hazards. Miners suffer a substantially increased risk of getting cancer. Most mining occurs on Indigenous People's land, violating their traditional economic and spiritual lives. Given our limited knowledge of the risks associated with uranium mining, why continue?
This film does not deal with Chernobyl, but rather with the world of Chernobyl, about which we know very little. Eyewitness reports have survived: scientists, teachers, journalists, couples, children... They tell of their old daily lives, then of the catastrophe. Their voices form a long, terrible but necessary supplication which traverses borders and stimulates us to question our status quo.