How and where we source our energy has become one of the most pressing questions of our time. As the oil starts to run out and the planet starts to hot up, how are we going to keep the lights on, keep our cars running and generally sustain the lavish lifestyles to which we in the West have become happily accustomed?
Of course there are lots of possible solutions, but lately one particular answer seems to have pushed its way to the fore. It’s NUCLEAR POWER. An industry that just a few short years ago was increasingly seen as a dirty, expensive and unreliable relic, has suddenly transformed itself into a real contender to help solve the energy crisis and combat climate change. So just what is going on?
Nuclear power is one of those issues that most people are aware of but few really understand. At even the most basic level, it’s confusing. What actually is nuclear power?
How does it work? And how is it different from fossil fuels?
More broadly, the politics of nuclear power are complex and contradictory. Once upon a time, nuclear was the wonder energy of the future – safe, clean, cheap and in limitless supply. Then it became a bogeyman, a source of grotesque cancers in Chernobyl and contentious leukaemia clusters round power stations like Sellafield. More recently it’s become the saviour of crises including climate change and over-reliance on foreign oil. It’s no wonder people are confused, and that’s before you even start talking about radioactive waste disposal, the threat of terrorism, Iran … and how much it’s all going to cost.
13 Short Films…will attempt to get to the truth behind the spin and explore the many facets of this deeply controversial energy source at a time when debate on the subject is so urgently needed.
Using a range of approaches from animation and sketches to traditional documentary reportage, it will shine a light on the confused and confusing world of nuclear energy and show once and for all that the answer to the nuclear question is now, and always will be, a big, fat ‘No’.
THE FILMS
The pieces that make up the project will tackle a wide range of issues thrown up by the subject of nuclear power, and will utilise many different creative styles so as to keep the audience constantly engaged. The tone will also be constantly changing – the films will run the gamut of emotion from shocking and moving, to wry and even outright comical, with lots in between. They will always be
thought-provoking, but never preachy.
The following list, though not definitive, gives an idea of the type of short films planned for the project. They have been loosely arranged here so as to create a journey for the audience, starting with an understanding of why nuclear power became popular before gradually revealing more and more of the drawbacks as the piece progresses.
• The Atomic Age – lively archive from the early years of nuclear reminds us of those heady early days of optimism in the face of the new miracle energy
• Quick Question – a selection of prominent figures on both sides of the debate answer a series of quick fire questions on the most pressing issues from waste disposal and climate change, to terrorism and cost
• La Vie Atomique – a fly on the wall look at the daily life for three families living and working around the Flamanville nuclear power plant in northern France, a country where 80% of the electricity produced is nuclear
• Isotopes – a short stylised sketch set to music, in different locations (beach, playground, woodland etc); people hold up placards with information about the various radioactive isotopes including their half-life and impact on human health
• Minister – the behind-the-scenes story of former British Energy secrerary Tony Benn’s tenure as the nuclear industry’s political master, and his subsequent transformation into one of its most passionate critics
• 26/04/86 – Memories of Chernobyl; a collection of people with direct and indirect experience of the world’s worst nuclear accident (eg survivor, doctor, journalist, Cumbrian sheep farmer) remember that day
• Roll Call – stylised recounting of the recorded incidents and accidents at Britain’s largest and most notorious nuclear power plant, Sellafield, from 1950-2000; as the type-written incidents scrolll up the screen, they are dispassionately narrated by the disembodied voice of officialdom
• Guardians – revealing what life is really like for the
poorly paid and under-trained security guards charged with protecting America’s nuclear power plants, many of whom fear they‘ll get the sack if they tell the truth about their experiences on the job.
Great news on the grant Vicster! x