The NUCLEAR SPLIT of the title has become a feature of life in the Upper Palatinate, a region in West Germany bordering on Czechoslovakia. Since the location of the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant was finally determined on 4 February 1985, many people have changed their accustomed patterns of life. In its continuing line of development and its thematic diversity this film provides a profound insight into the process of landscape and ecologic destruction; and it describes the intentions behind the construction of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in terms of atomic policies. Once loyal citizens have been turned into hesitant radicals. Women civil servants, housewifes and mothers all reveal their awareness of a political and social responsibility that extends far beyond any initial expression of indignation.