THE FILM IN A NUTSHELL
Chain of Decay is a feature-length documentary that brings together a series of discrete but thematically-linked short documentary and animation segments to create an engaging and provocative portrait of a world most of know precious little about – the world of civil nuclear power.

Behind the glossy PR of an industry seeking to re-assert itself in an era of climate change and dwindling fuel supplies, focusing on the machines, the technology, the facts and figures, there’s another, hidden, picture – that of the living, breathing people nuclear affects in all their messy, emotional complexity.

This film tells their stories.

Taken together, their experiences add up to a striking ‘biography’ of the industry, illuminating not just the basic historical chronology of the technology, but also the wider cultural context leading to ups and downs in its fortunes and, perhaps most importantly, society’s understanding and response. We’ve got to where we are because most of us don’t know much about nuclear power. We’ve never heard these personal stories. But if we had, would we do things differently?

SEGMENTS
So far, we’ve completed short documentary segments about uranium mining in Arizona and New Mexico, decommissioning in Scotland, British energy minister Tony Benn’s time overseeing the industry and the incident record at the British Sellafield site, as well as animations about atomic history, radioactive waste and Iran, and a performance poetry piece about nuclear power and climate change.

Planned segments we are yet to film include a look at the daily life of a French nuclear town; the construction of the first new European reactor for many years, at Olkiluoto in Finland; the experience of security guards at America’s nuclear reactors; and the doctors dealing with the legacy of the accident at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union.

FUNDING STATUS
To date, the project has been funded through small charitable grants, in-kind contributions of time, expertise and equipment and above all, crowd funding from our supporters, on Indie GoGo and the Tenner Films mailing list.

We are continuing to explore all funding avenues we can, but the support of individuals remains absolutely crucial.

If you like the look of the project and want to help us complete it PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a contribution of what ever size you can manage – every little helps.

After successfully meeting our last target for the animation ‘Beyond’, our next target will be for the production costs on our opening segment. ‘Quick Question’.