Film exposes toxic legacy of weapons manufacturing

Nuclear power is being promoted recently as the green solution to climate change. However, this ignores the accidents at nuclear power plants, their vulnerability to climate change, the high cost and delayed construction of new plants, the harm to adjacent communities, and possibly the most important problem, tons of radioactive waste that will burden humanity for generations to come. The same issues arise with the former nuclear weapons facilities in the U.S. The Anti-nuclear Research and Activism series, organized by Rachel DiNitto, professor of East Asian Languages and Literature, is of particular importance to the PNW because of the former nuclear weapons site at Hanford in eastern Washington and the new push for Small Modular Nuclear reactors along the Columbia River.

As part of the series, there will be a screening of the documentary Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory (55 min., 2024)followed by Q&A with director Jeff Gipe on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 5 p.m. in 115 Lawrence Hall. 

The film exposes how the U.S. secretly manufactured thousands of atomic weapons in the suburbs of Denver, leaving behind a toxic legacy that will persist for generations. The Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant churned out a staggering 70,000 atomic bombs, each serving as a “trigger” for thermonuclear warheads. Concealed by government secrecy, the plant’s fires, leaks, and illicit dumping of nuclear waste contaminated the Denver area with long-lived radioactive toxins. A major—and highly visible—plutonium fire sparked a decade of mass protests, culminating in an unprecedented FBI raid that ultimately shuttered the plant. Today, the radioactive legacy of Rocky Flats continues to threaten public health, yet surprisingly few people are aware the plant ever existed.

Director and producer Jeff Gipe’s work explores the intersections of ecological violence and systemic injustice. His connection to the subject stems from his upbringing near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, where his father was employed.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is cosponsored by the OHC’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities. For more information, contact rdinitto@uoregon.edu