PU-239 is a 2007 film directed by Hollywood producer Scott Z. Burns based on the book PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies written by Ken Kalfus. The film was shown twice at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival under the title The Half Life of Timofey Berezin, before being distributed by HBO Films under its original working title. Pu-239 is the chemical symbol for plutonium-239 , a radioactive isotope of the chemical element plutonium. Timofey Berezin works at a former top-secret, badly run and aged nuclear reprocessing facility plant in Skotoprigonyevsk-16, a former closed city and a... naukograd. At the film's outset, he is exposed to radioactive contamination while selflessly trying to stop a criticality malfunction. The facility's draconian managers maintain his exposure was a survivable 100 rems, while accusing him of sabotage and suspending him without pay. Loyal coworkers, however, help Timofey discover the truth: he was exposed to 1,000 rems of radiation . Suffering from acute radiation poisoning, he has only days to live.
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| Release date: | September 12, 2006 |
| Directed by: | Scott Z. Burns |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 97 Minutes |
| Producer: | Charlie Lyons, George Clooney |
| Editor: | Tatiana S. Riegel |
| Music by: | Abel Korzeniowski |
| Estimated budget: | $5,000,000 |
| Genre: | Thriller |