The New Fire

David Schumacher’s nonfiction feature is one of a handful of recent documentaries that have advocated for a second look at nuclear energy—which is vilified in the media, politics, the eco-community and, of course, other documentaries—as an antidote to climate change and an alternative to coal and oil. After dismissing solar and wind power (no mention of tidal generators) as unreliable and inadequate, Schumacher turns the camera lens on brave, young, idealistic, and mediagenic innovator-entrepreneurs from MIT and other labs, who are formulating "nuclear 2.0"—i.e., power-plant designs that overcome the hazards associated with disasters like Fukushima, Three Mile Island, and all the bad PR behind Simpsons jokes. Transatomic is a startup with a "salt reactor" concept that makes it (allegedly) meltdown-proof. Smaller, cleaner reactors (servicing off-the-grid remote communities such as in Alaska) are also the passion of husband-and-wife scientists Caroline Cochran and Jacob DeWitte. Granted, it is a bit much when a pro-nuclear activist takes to singing opera in the Paris subway to hype his manifesto, and—unsurprisingly—no opponents of nuclear energy are given a voice here. A notable (if one-sided) entry into the sustainability debate, the film also includes comments from nuclear proponent Bill Gates and author Tom Blees. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)