New Film – “Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory”

The title of the new film may make you think it is about Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) located in northern New Mexico.  But you would be wrong.  “Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory,” a film by Jeff Gipe, is about the dangerous legacy of the Rocky Flats atomic bomb factory, located near Denver, Colorado.  The world premiere will take place in early November at the Denver Film Festival.  Trailer here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TbsTy1KcbQ  ; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33308692/

You would be right that both LANL and Rocky Flats fabricated the plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons.  But the numbers from each are staggeringly different.

Over its four decades of secret operations, Rocky Flats fabricated 70,000 triggers costing many workers their lives.  Radioactive and hazardous waste was illegally dumped, released in deadly fires at the site, and contaminated the Denver metro area with long-lived radioactive toxins that continue to spread through the air, water, soils and bodies.

In 1989, the FBI raided the Rocky Flats for environmental violations and it was closed and “cleaned up.”  http://www.rockyflatshistory.org/history.html

For nearly 80 years, radioactive and hazardous waste at LANL has been released into the canyons whose waters flow to the Rio Grande.  It has been buried in unlined dumps.

In 2011, LANL fabricated a total of 11 plutonium triggers – a high point in production.  LANL is currently tasked with fabricating 30 triggers a year.

The main thrust of Gipe’s film exposes the dark past and enduring impact of the Rocky Flats operations.  The filmmaker observes, “The [Department of Energy] does not want to acknowledge the history of the plant.  Colorado instead wants to create a success story out there.”  Similarly, DOE is working to create a LANL story of success.  https://coloradocommunitymedia.com/2024/10/27/new-film-tackles-the-dangerous-legacy-of-rocky-flats/

The interpretation of the Rocky Flats story is critical right now because of the nation’s renewed nuclear weapons buildup and the ongoing expensive construction of a new plutonium trigger factory at DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.  https://srswatch.org/

Many of the newcomers to the Denver metro area are not aware that continuing dangers exist at the Rocky Flats site.  Reporter Monte Whaley began his October 27, 2024 article with a quote from longtimers there:  “One of the biggest ailments caused by the abandoned Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant is a dangerous form of amnesia, say residents and government officials.”  https://coloradocommunitymedia.com/2024/10/27/new-film-tackles-the-dangerous-legacy-of-rocky-flats/

Of course, amnesia is not necessarily a concern for the 2,000 newly-hired workers at LANL’s Plutonium Facility.  https://cdn.lanl.gov/files/2024-housing-demand-and-demographics_0504a.pdf

But for those who have lived around these nuclear weapons facilities, their memories resist forgetting. The harms have been too great.  https://www.energy.gov/ehss/energy-employees-occupational-illness-compensation-program

1. Friday, November 8^th at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners!

 Friday, November 8^th from 4 to 5 pm, the New Mexico Peace Fest will gather at the corners of St. Michael’s Drive and Pacheco in Santa Fe in preparation for Armistice Day.  The location is below the LANL on-boarding offices for new employees and workspaces.  Bring your flags, signs and banners.

2. Monday, November 11^th from 10:30 am to noon on the Santa Fe Plaza – Armistice Day. Join Veterans for Peace to celebrate Armistice Day.  There will be singing and speakers.   

Over one hundred years ago, in 1918, the world celebrated peace as a universal principle.  The first World War had just ended and nations mourning their dead collectively called for an end to all wars.  Armistice Day was born and was designated as “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated.”

3. Tuesday, November 12^th – Friday, November 15^th – PFAS Rulemaking Hearing by the NM Oil Conservation Commission (OCC), a division of the Energy Minerals & Natural Resources Department. For more information, https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/ocd/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/Notice-of-Public-Meeting-and-Rulemaking-hearing.pdf.

 Take action at:  https://action.wildearthguardians.org/page/57741/petition/1 ; https://www.defendnmwater.org/

4. Friday, November 15^th, NM Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee meeting at State Capitol in Santa Fe. https://www.nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC   Check back for more information as it is posted. 

Tags: amnesia, cleaned up, Denver, Denver Film Festival, Department of Energy, DOE, environmental violations, fabricating plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons, FBI raid of Rocky Flats, hazardous waste, Jeff Gipe, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, radioactive waste, Reporter Monte Whaley, Rio Grande, Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, Savannah River Site, “Half-Life of Memory” America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory