Galison, Moss Documentary Catches Attention of Sundance

The second floor of the Science Center houses the production headquarters of an upcoming film titled “Nuclear Underground.” The editing room walls are papered with evidence of a documentary in progress: color-coded index cards track the development of themes and a large calendar is filled out with grant deadlines. The latter has netted a literal payoff: the filmmakers recently won a grant from the Sundance Documentary Film Program. Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor of the History of Science and of Physics, and Robb Moss, who teaches filmmaking in the Visual and Environmental Studies department, were one of 22 Sundance grant recipients from a pool of over 450 projects.

Their film “Nuclear Underground” explores the problem of nuclear waste disposal, focusing on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M.. The site is the world’s only operating underground nuclear waste depository. A complex set of environmental, political, and moral debates swirl around the WIPP. The topic of nuclear waste disposal is ripe for exploration and an appropriate fit for the Sundance Documentary Film Program. The Sundance Institute, the organization which also runs the annual independent film festival of the same name, seeks to fund documentaries which engage with a variety of contentious contemporary issues.

“The documentary is about how we relate to the land, how we relate to the future, and what are our obligations to the future … These are big philosophical questions,” says Galison. Stressing that the film will not be a lecture on nuclear physics, Galison explains that the film’s large philosophical questions are grounded in very tangible issues. The problem of how to dispose of radioactive waste from power plants has created controversy among environmentalists. Nuclear waste, which also comes from nuclear weapons, is a problem because it remains dangerous for thousands of years.

The site at Carlsbad, N.M. was chosen because of the stability of its geological salt formations, which will have to last 10,000 years. Nuclear waste is stored in underground caves tunneled in the salt that, under heat and pressure, will flow like lava to seal off the nuclear waste. The community in Carlsbad is actually quite supportive of WIPP’s presence because it has revived the former miner town’s dying economy. But there are still many New Mexico politicians and residents who object to the storage and shipment of dangerous nuclear waste in their state.

Galison and Moss, who began work on the documentary over a year and a half ago, have visited New Mexico several times to film underground in WIPP as well as to interview people from the local community. Currently, they anticipate that “Nuclear Underground” will take another two years to complete, and will require several more trips to New Mexico. At present, they are also working with a team of animators and musicians, including Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger, a former student of Galison’s who is slated to score the film.

In describing the filmmaking process, both Galison and Moss emphasize how time-consuming it is to produce a documentary. “Coming into the project, we [knew] that we do not have all the answers. We want to learn from the people we’re talking to,” says Galison. The two educators first collaborated on their 2008 documentary “Secrecy,” a film which explored questions of governmental oversight and bureaucratic transparency. They also co-teach the course History of Science 152: Filming Science.

As for “Nuclear Underground,” the two filmmakers stress that they have a long journey ahead of them. The Sundance grant will help, but there is still more footage to film and more funding to seek. “It’s still the early days for us,” says Galison. “There will be many more hours in the editing room.” But the two men both remain grateful and enthusiastic about the film’s prospects. Moss says, “it’s a real shot in the arm to get this kind of authorizing legitimacy, as well as the actual funding.”

—Staff writer Sarah S. Zhang can be reached at zhang50@fas.harvard.edu.