Atomic Bomb Movies and Documentaries

The history of nuclear weapons between 1945 until 1963.

U.S. nuclear tests in space, and the development of the military intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

A tour of U.S. atomic test sites in Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi, and Alaska.

Since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents, known as "Broken Arrows." A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft or loss of the weapon. To date, six nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered.Now, recently declassified documents reveal the history and secrecy surrounding the events known as "Broken Arrows". There have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents since 1950. Six of these nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered. What does this say about our defense system? What does this mean to our threatened environment? What do we do to rectify these monumental "mistakes"? Using spectacular special effects, newly uncovered and recently declassified footage, filmmaker Peter Kuran explores the accidents, incidents and exercises in the secret world of nuclear weapons.

Documentary of 1980's near-launch of a nuclear missile from Arkansas, based on Eric Shlosser's award-winning book of the same name.

See how America developed the most destructive invention in human history - the nuclear bomb - how it changed the world and how it continues to loom large in our lives. Hear from historians and those who experienced the dawn of the atomic age.

Disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

In 2001 tons of ashed human bones were found in Melbourne, contaminated by Strontium 90, a toxic residue of nuclear weapon tests in Australia and around the world.

It starts with a live radio broadcast from the Bikini Atoll a few days before it is annihilated by a nuclear test. Shows great footage from these times and tells the story of the US Navy Sailors who were exposed to radioactive fallout. One interviewed sailor suffered grotesquely swollen limbs and he is shown being interviewed with enormous left arm and hand.

A documentary on American nuclear testing in the Pacific atolls.

This 1991 Academy Award®-winning documentary uncovers the disastrous health and environmental side effects caused by the production of nuclear materials by the General Electric Corporation.

A documentary about how the likelihood of nuclear weapons (or fissile materials) usage has increased due to the rise of terrorism and lack of safeguards and verification.

It is one of the most volatile nuclear arms controversies in America's history: the mismanagement of the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant outside Aiken, South Carolina--mismanagement which has produced numerous reactor accidents, a general deterioration of the aging facility's cooling system, and the threat of nuclear waste to the area's drinking water. BUILDING BOMBS, the product of five years of research and filmed interviews by Atlanta filmmakers Mark Mori and Susan Robinson, is the first in-depth look at the social, emotional and moral impact of the nation's largest nuclear weapons manufacturing facility on the people of Aiken, South Carolina. But BUILDING BOMBS is more than just the facts--horrifying as they are. It is a powerful story of individuals whose lives and livelihoods were wed to the Savannah River Plant and of how those individuals faced complex personal and professional choices with touching courage and dignity.

Experimental documentary that looks at the Hiroshima nuclear bomb and its legacy.

Follows the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where Air Force officers are trained to man the Launch Control Centers for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Sequences include discussion of the moral and military issues of nuclear war; the arming, targeting and launching of the missile; codes; communications; protection against terrorist attack; emergency procedures; staff meetings and tutorial sessions.

Host and physicist Dr. Derek Muller unlocks the mysteries of uranium, one of the Earth's most controversial elements.

The danger of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan.

A shocking political expose, and an intimate ethnographic portrait of Pacific Islanders struggling for survival, dignity and justice after decades of top-secret human radiation experiments conducted on them by the U.S. government.

One of the few atomic testing operations ever to be conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense at both the Pacific Proving Grounds and the Nevada Test Site, Operation Hardtack combined balloon shots, surface shots, barge shots, underwater shots, underground shots, tower shots and missile shots.

Using extensive interviews with survivors and archival footage, an examination reveals the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

A global look at the impact of military use of nuclear technology and people's perception of it.

Will nuclear weapons deter World War III or only make it more likely? NOVA explores the military strategies of the nuclear age, now that the challenge may no longer be to win global war but to prevent it.

When the Cold War ended, worry about nuclear weapons receded. But has the nuclear threat really diminished? Join Bud Ryan on a personal and global journey to discover what the bomber can learn from the bombed, and what our prospects look like for finally living in a nuclear-free world. Features interviews with bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, authors Gar Alperovitz and Jonathan Schell, and many more.

A documentary history of the development and deployment of the Cold War's ultimate weapon: the nuclear missile submarine. Features interviews with Navy veterans and footage never-before-seen by the public.

Funny yet incisive look at the PANTEX Nuclear Weapons Plant, in Amarillo, TX, which was used for nuclear weapons assembly during the Cold War. The plant, which provides most of the jobs for those living in Amarillo, now operates as a disassembly-line where the weapons, which were once built there, are now being taken apart with the plutonium getting stored underground. The film deals with the issues of storing the plutonium and the effects the plant has had (and is having) on the town of Amarillo, as well as how it has affected the way people thought about the Cold War and its aftermath. It does so by taking a look at the lives and activities of the Amarillo residents directly or indirectly associated with, or having strong opinions about the Plant.