Clam Video Library
Acres of Clams
The Clamshell Alliance organized thousands of people to occupy the construction site of the Seabrook Nuclear Plant in the 1970s and 1980s. Clamshell’s creative use of disciplined, nonviolent direct action captured national headlines and alerted Americans to the grave risks and absurd cost of nuclear power. At the same time, Clamshell promoted renewable power as a cleaner, safer and ultimately cheaper alternative to both nuclear and fossil fuels. Using historical photos and film footage—and interviews with Clamshell organizers themselves— Acres of Clams is the story of how a handful of remarkable activists managed to build a local struggle into a successful national movement.
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RADIOACTIVE: A feature documentary about the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown–the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history. This film can now be streamed on Apple+ and Amazon Prime Video.
RADIOACTIVE covers the never-before-told stories of four intrepid homemakers, two lawyers who took the local community’s case all the way to the Supreme Court, and a young female journalist who was caught in the radioactive crossfire. RADIOACTIVE features activist and actor Jane Fonda–whose film, CHINA SYNDROME (a fictional account of a nuclear meltdown), opened 12 days before the real disaster in Pennsylvania.
RADIOACTIVE also breaks the story of a radical new health study (in process) that may finally expose the truth of the meltdown. For over forty years, the nuclear industry has done all in their power to cover up their criminal actions, claiming, as they always do, “No one was harmed and nothing significant happened at Three Mile Island.” In this thrilling feminist documentary, indomitable women fight back against the nuclear industry Goliath to expose one of the worst cover-ups in U.S. history.
In 1976, New Hampshire residents took direct action against the construction of a twin-reactor nuclear power plant in the coastal town of Seabrook. For years they had witnessed how the regulatory process was stacked in favor of the nuclear industry. How could they believe otherwise? Federal regulators had never denied a permit for building a nuclear power plant.
The on-going triple nuclear reactor meltdown disaster in Fukushima, Japan began on 3/11/11. Shortly afterwards our horror turned to resolve, and we began the project that 13 years later, resulted in our award-winning feature documentary, SOS – The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Powers Legacy.
Our SOS film aims to help prevent a similar tragedy in California, where two coastal nuclear reactor sites and 3 radioactive waste sites are in earthquake and tsunami zones…just like in Fukushima.
Amazingly, despite their dire situation, compassionate Fukushima survivors traveled all the way to California to warn us and to tell us about what really happened since both our governments covered up the facts. We are deeply grateful to them and inspired by all the Japanese citizens who fought so hard and so long against restarting their country’s reactors.
On George Washington’s Birthday, 1974, Sam Lovejoy–a 27-year-old farmer–toppled a 500-foot weather tower in Montague, Massachusetts. The tower had been erected by the local utility as part of their attempt to build one of the largest nuclear power plants ever planned. Leaving 349 feet of twisted wreckage behind, Lovejoy hitched a ride to the local police station, where he turned himself in along with a four-page statement decrying the dangers of nuclear power and accusing the government and utilities of “conspiracy and despotism.” Six months later, Lovejoy stood trial for “willful and malicious destruction of personal property,” a five-year felony. He insisted on conducting his own case, and told the jury he had acted in self-defense. After a dramatic seven-day trial, Lovejoy went free.
Long time Clam Brian Tokar was invited by Mexico’s National Strategic Program on Energy and Climate Change to participate in a panel on April 10th titled, “Nuclear energy in Mexico: Response or false solution to the climate crisis and energy security.” In addition to Brian’s opening presentation, a French researcher based in Mexico explained why uranium mining is not likely to be feasible there and 2 authors of a recent report on the topic gave comprehensive overviews of a host of arguments against a proposed new Mexican nuclear program, including wider issues of centralization and militarism, also highlighting the need for degrowth. The entire video is in Spanish, including the simultaneous translation of Brian’s talk (his slides are in English).
Atomic Bamboozle – A Jan Haaken Production
As political pressure mounts in the US to meet net zero carbon goals, the nuclear power industry makes its case for a nuclear “renaissance.” This documentary by NECESSITY Director Jan Haaken follows activists as they expose the true costs of the new small nuclear reactor designs.
THE LAST RESORT presents the human side of the Seabrook confrontation, balancing the arguments of the strongly pro-nuclear Governor Meldrim Thomson and nuclear utility officials against those of local citizens and project opponents. The film includes frank assessments from local police, area officials and then-candidate Jimmy Carter, as well as footage from key confrontations in Europe, Japan and India.
The film is an exciting and essential primer in understanding the nuclear controversy and the issues-local and global-that are behind it.
This was a film that GMP Films produced in 1977 to help in nonviolence training that was taking place as part of the campaign to stop construction at the Seabrook, NH Nuclear Plant. It was also widely used as the anti-nuclear movement spread to other regional alliances and site occupations. We wanted to put it up on YouTube now because of its relevance to the Occupy Wall Street protests that are taking place today. Features commentary by long time nonviolent activists Wally and Juanita Nelson.
Seabrook, NH was an international focal point in the struggle over atomic power. In the summer of 1978, nine months before the accident at Three Mile Island, more than 20,000 opponents of the Seabrook plant were addressed by a broad range of the leading figures in the anti-nuclear campaign. The film of this seminal rally offers a succinct and powerful summary of many of the most important statements of that movement, including speeches by Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Barry Commoner, Dick Gregory, Sarah Nelson, Dianne Garand, Dr. John Gofman, Amory Lovins and singers Jackson Browne, John Hall and Pete Seeger. The film also takes us to the steps of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, where the first demonstration there prompted some contrasting views from members of the board that regulates this controversial industry.
“Early Warnings” describes the electric events at Seabrook and presents a tight outline of the anti-nuclear case, as well as providing a look into one of the movement’s most inspiring moments-its biggest and best-publicized rally before Three Mile Island.