The movie Pandora’s Promise gave an interesting argument for nuclear energy, bringing the viewer on a journey from the Japanese Fukushima power plant, and the areas of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, even through the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and finally ends up analyzing the role of nuclear energy in the United States and the rest of the world.

I really like the path the movie took, first  starting out with the counter argument, looking at mos of the public concerns with nuclear energy and their association with nuclear weapons. Then the movie did a great job of arguing why these opinions are wrong and exposing the science that shows how good nuclear energy can be, and how inflated the negative effects are.

Towards the middle of the movie, the focus shifted to the importance of moving beyond coal and oil. It expressed the importance of clean energy for growing economies and countries. The movie looked to nuclear energy as the answer, where one pound of uranium creates as much energy as 5000 barrels of oil, with minimal waste and zero emissions from the process itself. The total waste of all nuclear energy could be contained in a nine foot high by 300 foot area. These convincing points were introduced as not only evidence for the movies argument but to counter the opposition’s argument, which made the movie that much more effective at arguing its point.

One aspect of their argument that continued throughout the whole movie wa the little yellow radiation measurer, that showed how natural radiation can even surpass the radiation left behind by the Chernobyl accident.

The most interesting part of the movie, and the one which i am most skeptical about, was where it claimed that the U.S. has bought Russian nuclear warheads and converted into fuel. If this is true, it is an amazing step and precedent to follow in terms of getting rid of nuclear weapons, and adopting nuclear power. I am skeptical however simply because it isn’t an idea i have heard of and is something that seems like I would know about if it was true. A healthy skepticism is good, but there is no reason to doubt it is true more than any other piece of the movies argument.