posted 02-25-2005 04:56 PM               

The NASA History Division is pleased to announce the availability of a new documentary DVD, Of Ashes and Atoms: A Documentary on the NASA Plum Brook Reactor Facility (NASA SP-2005-4605).

Narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway of the Star Trek Voyager series), this documentary is approximately 90 minutes long. The Plum Brook Reactor Facility, operating from 1962-1973, was one of the first nuclear test reactors built in the United States and the only one built by NASA. The reactor facility was the cornerstone of the Plum Brook Station, an installation of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The Reactor Facility was abruptly shut down in 1973 due to budget reductions. NASA then placed the facility in a safe dry storage mode until March 2002, when careful decommissioning work began. The decommissioning process is scheduled for completion in 2007 when the area will return to being the rich farmland that housed the original 18th century colonists.

While the reactor never reached its full potential, the personnel who have worked there made great achievements in terms of scientific discovery, as well as building, operating, and safely deconstructing a nuclear reactor. Plum Brook's rich history has significant lessons in terms of management, environmental stewardship, painstaking engineering, and scientific investigation.

Of Ashes and Atoms was produced and directed by James Polaczynski and written by him with Robert Arrighi. This DVD plays in DVD players that are attached to a television and also runs on both Mac and PC computers.

As long as supplies last, you may obtain one copy of this DVD by sending a self-addressed, padded envelope with appropriate postage (typically $1.90 within the U.S., $2.30 for Canada, and $5.60 for overseas - international customers are asked to purchase U.S. postage through an outlet such as stampsonline.com to the NASA Headquarters Information Center, 300 E Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20546-0001, 202-358-0000. Please do not send cash or checks.