Fatal Fallout

This documentary feature film examines the devastating what-if scenario, as well as the all-too-real history of public exposure to radiation - the silent, invisible and odourless killer - from x-ray exams, to Hiroshima, and to the recent accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. While featuring chilling, formerly classified archival footage shot at government nuclear test sites, the film makes clear that the fatal legacy of nuclear power, post-9/11, is no longer relegated to B&W newsreel or a child's nightmares. The current controversy that surrounds the woefully inadequate government evacuation plans for communities situated near nuclear reactors - such as Indian Point - would seem an eerie reflection of President Eisenhower's memo when asked what to tell the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons testing and the construction of power plants: "Keep them confused." Eight percent of the population of the United States, which includes all of New York City, all of Bergen County, NJ, all of Putnam County, NY, all of Rockland County, NY, all of Westchester County, NY and most of Fairfield County, CT, live within a fifty-mile radius of Indian Point.