Atomkraft Forever

a film by Carsten Rau. In German.

Germany is turning away from nuclear power once and for all in 2022. The risk is too high, the technology unmanageable. Yet the nuclear nightmare goes on: with umpteen thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste, the storage of which isn’t the least bit clear; with the hazardous dismantling of power plants which will take decades and gobble up many billions of euros; and with neighbours who firmly hold on to mankind’s dream of atomic energy – 13 of the 27 nations in the EU operate nuclear power plants and the development thereof continues.
The feature-length documentary film Atomkraft Forever by Carsten Rau takes a profound as well as alarming look at the nuclear nightmare. In grand scenes unprecedentedly portrayed, and in six interwoven episodes: about the absurd amount of effort involved in demolishing a gigantic nuclear power plant; about the quest for a final repository that is supposed to weather a million years and the next ten ice ages; into the heart of the French atomic industry that ridicules the German opt-out as “ludicrous” and wants even more power plants.
Atomkraft Forever doesn’t leave any arguments out, even though they may be unpopular. In the end, the viewer can and must form their own impression of the mania called nuclear power. That has no end.