Atomic Cities Part I: Manhattan Redux

In the first of three semesters sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Gary Rohrbacher's Atomic Cities Research Group considered the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) in Paducah, KY in conjunction with the University of Kentucky's Center for Applied Energy Research and The Kentucky Research Consortium on Energy and Environment. The studio took on the challenge of developing a 150 year scenario plan for the plant, one of the most contaminated top secret sites in United States history. As the point of origin for all fissile materials bound for both energy and defense during the last sixty years, the site now finds itself with a plume of contaminants running beneath it and a plan for closure in the near future. Channeling the audacity of the original Manhattan Project scientists, the studio took the PGDP's numerous problems and made them the solution by proposing an economy generated by its own cleanup. Visit our blog and the Culture Now Project for additional details.