{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"In The NoCo","title":"Workers at Rocky Flats helped build America’s nuclear arsenal. A new film digs into memories of the controversial plant","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":525,"description":"\nIf you visit the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Denver, you see different types of wildlife, miles of hiking and biking trails and acres of rolling prairie.  \n\nBut you don’t see any trace of the astonishing history of what happened there during the Cold War: The Rocky Flats plant made plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons until it was shuttered in the early 1990s.  \n\nThe buildings used in processing the plutonium were destroyed and the area was cleaned up under a Superfund site designation. And after a series of sometimes contentious public hearings, the wildlife refuge opened to the public in September 2018. \n\nFilmmaker Jeff Gipe explores that history in a new documentary, Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory. Gipe grew up in nearby Arvada. His father worked at the plant in the 1980s.  \n\nGipe says he made the film to remind people of the hazards buried beneath the wide-open spaces of the wildlife refuge, and to share the voices of workers whose lives were affected by the dangerous materials processed at Rocky Flats. He spoke about the documentary with ITN’s Erin O’Toole. \n\nThe film premieres Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Denver Film Festival. Find the complete lineup and schedule for the festival here. \n\nYou can watch the film’s trailer here. \n\n* * * * *\nSign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org\nQuestions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org\nLike what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!\nHost and Producer: Erin O'Toole\nProducer: Ariel Lavery\nExecutive Producer: Brad Turner\nTheme music by Robbie Reverb\nAdditional music by Blue Dot Sessions\nIn The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado. ","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/deJ82RY9r1q1D4I5ARzsuuMZw17RvtIT7PwnQQPLPzk/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI5MDcyLzE2OTUw/NzA5NjEtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}