The First Secret City (2015)
The secret is out.
105 min
Before the creation of the secret cities of Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Hanford, the Manhattan Project hired the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works of St. Louis to refine the first uranium used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. For the next two decades, Mallinckrodt continued its classified work for the Atomic Energy Commission during the Cold War. The resulting radioactive waste contaminated numerous locations in the St. Louis area some of which have not been cleaned up 70 years after the end of World War II. Told through the eyes of an overexposed worker, the story expands through a series of interviews that careen down a toxic pathway leading to a fiery terminus at a smoldering, radioactively-contaminated landfill. The First Secret City reveals a forgotten history and its continuing impact on the community in the 21st Century, uncovering past wrongdoing and documenting the renewed struggles to confront the issue.
- Release date
- November 15, 2015
- Country of origin
- United States
Cast
- John Bell as Self - Athletic Supervisor - BMAC
- Carolyn Bower as Self - Former St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reporter
- Larry Burgan as Self - Former Steelworker
- Harvey Cantor as Self - Pediatric Neurologist
- Dawn Chapman as Self - Just Moms STL
- Douglas Clemens as Self - Chairman of the Community Advisory Group (CAG)
- Robert Criss as Self - Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Washington University St. Louis
Crew
- John Bell · Archive footage
- Conrad Bowers · Archive footage
- Karl Brooks · Archive footage
- Richard Callow · Archive footage
- C.D. Stelzer · Producer
- Eric Hall · Composer
- Alison Carrick · Cinematographer
- Alison Carrick · Editor