The New Fire

This isn’t a film about politics, or about how much damage we’ve already done, or pointing fingers at who is to blame. This is a film about a path forward. To show audiences that there is a technological solution—one that may surprise them.

I understand that nuclear has had its problems over the years and that there are risks. But I’m more afraid of the risks of unchecked climate change than I am of a hypothetical nuclear accident. The scale of climate change is almost unfathomable and threatens the future of the human race. We were on a path to developing ground breaking nuclear technology in the 60s but then it stalled. Why haven’t we gone back to these promising discoveries to confront the most pressing problem that humanity has ever faced?

Well, it turns out that we have, I just hadn’t heard about it. Rather than a large Manhattan Project-scale effort, it is small startups founded by young people. Really impressive, idealistic young people who are determined to prove that nuclear energy’s best days lie ahead.

This was the beginning of my obsession with the subject of nuclear power. But it wasn’t until I met the young engineers at Transatomic and Oklo that I knew I had to make this movie. These brilliant young people – some of the most gifted engineers of their generation, who could have cashed in for a fortune by doing something else – believe deeply that nuclear power can play a key role in saving the planet. And they are acting on that conviction. They did the research. They raised the money. They used cutting edge computer technology to perfect their designs. They are the new face of nuclear power. And to me, the newest and most unlikely climate heroes.

I want audiences to come away from The New Fire with a new perspective about a technology they may have dismissed until now. And new sense of mission to try and save our planet before it’s too late.

-David Schumacher