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[[Plutonium]], used to construct the weapons' fissile component, can spontaneously combust at room temperatures in air, and a major plutonium fire in 1957<ref name="DoE" /> and another in 1969<ref name="VirtualMuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.colorado.edu/journalism/cej/exhibit/index.html |title=Rocky Flats Virtual Museum |publisher=[[University of Colorado at Boulder]] |date= |accessdate=September 3, 2011}}</ref> occurred at Rocky Flats that spread radioactive contamination throughout the northwest corridor of Denver, including much of the downtown and metropolitan areas and beyond.<ref name="Moore2007p87-89">{{Harvnb|Moore|2007|pp=87-89}}.</ref>
[[Plutonium]], used to construct the weapons' fissile component, can spontaneously combust at room temperatures in air, and a major plutonium fire in 1957<ref name="DoE" /> and another in 1969<ref name="VirtualMuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.colorado.edu/journalism/cej/exhibit/index.html |title=Rocky Flats Virtual Museum |publisher=[[University of Colorado at Boulder]] |date= |accessdate=September 3, 2011}}</ref> occurred at Rocky Flats that spread radioactive contamination throughout the northwest corridor of Denver, including much of the downtown and metropolitan areas and beyond.<ref name="Moore2007p87-89">{{Harvnb|Moore|2007|pp=87-89}}.</ref>


No warning, advisement or cleanup was provided to the public in the 1957 fire, the worse of the two major fires, though hundreds of pounds of plutonium were consumed in the 1969 fire alone. The public was not informed of the 1957 plutonium fire until after the U.S. government was confronted by civilian monitoring teams with plutonium measurements, ostensibly from the 1969 fire. Estimates for the amount of plutonium released to the environment vary between tens of grams to hundreds of kilograms. In all, hundreds of plutonium fires and intentional incinerations occurred at Rocky Flats that were not nearly as destructive.<ref name="CDPHEsummary">{{cite web | url=http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/rf/1957fire.htm | title=Citizen Summary: Rocky Flats Historical Public Exposures Studies | publisher=Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment | accessdate=September 17, 2011}}</ref><ref name="DoE" /><ref name="Moore1992" /><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/us/us-shares-blame-in-abuses-at-a-plant.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm</ref>
No warning, advisement or cleanup was provided to the public in the 1957 fire, the worse of the two major fires, though hundreds of pounds of plutonium were consumed in the 1969 fire alone. At the time, [[AEC]] officials told the ''Denver Post'' that the fire “resulted in no spread of radioactive contamination of any consequence.”<ref>“Atomic Plant Fire Causes $50,000 Loss,” Denver Post, 12 September 1957.</ref> The public was not informed of substantial contamination from the 1957 plutonium fire until after the U.S. government was confronted by civilian monitoring teams with plutonium measurements, which suspected the source as being the 1969 fire.<ref>http://www.rockyflatsnuclearguardianship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/leroy-moore-papers/dem-public-heath-at-rf-12-10.pdf, Page 3</ref> Estimates for the amount of plutonium released to the environment vary between tens of grams to hundreds of kilograms. In all, hundreds of plutonium fires and intentional incinerations occurred at Rocky Flats that were not nearly as destructive.<ref name="CDPHEsummary">{{cite web | url=http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/rf/1957fire.htm | title=Citizen Summary: Rocky Flats Historical Public Exposures Studies | publisher=Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment | accessdate=September 17, 2011}}</ref><ref name="DoE" /><ref name="Moore1992" /><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/us/us-shares-blame-in-abuses-at-a-plant.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm</ref>


After operating for 40 years, only ending after great public protest and a combined [[FBI]] and [[EPA]] raid in 1989 that stopped production, the Rocky Flats Plant was declared a [[Superfund]] site in 1989 and began its transformation to a cleanup site in February 1992. Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nearly all underground contamination was left in place in order to mitigate costs to the U.S. Government, who provided liability indemnification to the defense contractors involved.<ref name="DoE"/>
After operating for 40 years, only ending after great public protest and a combined [[FBI]] and [[EPA]] raid in 1989 that stopped production, the Rocky Flats Plant was declared a [[Superfund]] site in 1989 and began its transformation to a cleanup site in February 1992. Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nearly all underground contamination was left in place in order to mitigate costs to the U.S. Government, who provided liability indemnification to the defense contractors involved.<ref name="DoE"/>

Revision as of 09:23, 29 September 2011

Radioactive contamination of both the immediate, surrounding area and the entire greater Denver metropolitan area has resulted from decades of radioactive isotope releases, largely plutonium (Pu-239), into the environment from the Rocky Flats Plant, a former nuclear weapons production facility located about 15 miles upwind of Denver that has since been shut down and disassembled.

Moreover, in 1957 there was a major Pu-239 fire at the plant, followed by another major fire in 1969. Both of these fires resulted in this radioactive material being released into the atmosphere, with the then-secret 1957 fire being the more serious of the two.

The contamination of the Denver area by plutonium from these fires and other sources was not reported until the 1970s, and as of 2011 the U.S. Government continues to withhold data on post-Superfund cleanup contamination levels.

Nonetheless, elevated levels of plutonium have been found in the remains of cancer victims living near the Rocky Flats site, and breathable plutonium outside of Rocky Flats has been found as recently as August 2010. At odds with these facts, no long-term studies of the plutonium contamination and its effect on health are being held as of 2011, and protracted consequences and on-going concerns remain to be addressed.[1][2][3][4]

Rocky Flats Plant fires

During the Cold War the Rocky Flats Plant nuclear weapons production facility was built with high security conditions by the U.S. Government -- but without consulting local or state authorities for permission -- 16 miles to the northwest of Denver. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, only employees knew of the work being done there, and even they had only a working knowledge of their specific responsibilities. The general public was kept entirely uninformed.[5][6]

Plutonium, used to construct the weapons' fissile component, can spontaneously combust at room temperatures in air, and a major plutonium fire in 1957[1] and another in 1969[7] occurred at Rocky Flats that spread radioactive contamination throughout the northwest corridor of Denver, including much of the downtown and metropolitan areas and beyond.[8]

No warning, advisement or cleanup was provided to the public in the 1957 fire, the worse of the two major fires, though hundreds of pounds of plutonium were consumed in the 1969 fire alone. At the time, AEC officials told the Denver Post that the fire “resulted in no spread of radioactive contamination of any consequence.”[9] The public was not informed of substantial contamination from the 1957 plutonium fire until after the U.S. government was confronted by civilian monitoring teams with plutonium measurements, which suspected the source as being the 1969 fire.[10] Estimates for the amount of plutonium released to the environment vary between tens of grams to hundreds of kilograms. In all, hundreds of plutonium fires and intentional incinerations occurred at Rocky Flats that were not nearly as destructive.[11][1][6][12]

After operating for 40 years, only ending after great public protest and a combined FBI and EPA raid in 1989 that stopped production, the Rocky Flats Plant was declared a Superfund site in 1989 and began its transformation to a cleanup site in February 1992. Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nearly all underground contamination was left in place in order to mitigate costs to the U.S. Government, who provided liability indemnification to the defense contractors involved.[1]

FBI raid and aftermath

Dubbed "Operation Desert Glow," the DOJ-sponsored raid began at 9 a.m. on June 6, 1989[13] after the FBI got past the DOE's heavily armed, authorized to shoot-to-kill security -- whose armament included surface-to-air missiles -- under the ruse of providing a terrorist threat briefing and served its search warrant to Dominick Sanchini, Rockwell International's manager of Rocky Flats, who as it happened died the next year in Boulder of cancer.[14][15]

The FBI raid led to the formation of Colorado's first special grand jury in 1989, the juried testimony of 110 witnesses, reviews of 2,000 exhibits and ultimately a 1992 plea agreement in which Rockwell admitted to 10 federal environmental crimes and agreed to pay $18.5 million in fines out of its own funds. This amount was less than the company had been paid in bonuses for running the plant as determined by the GAO, and yet was also by far the highest hazardous-waste fine ever; four times larger than the previous record.[16] Moreover, due to DOE indemnification, without some form of settlement being arrived at between the U.S. Justice Department and Rockwell the cost of paying any fines would ultimately have been borne by U.S. taxpayers.[17][18][19][20][21]

Regardless, and as forewarned by the prosecuting U.S. Attorney, Ken Fimberg/Scott,[22] the Department of Justice's stated findings and plea agreement with Rockwell were heavily contested by its own, 23-member special grand jury. Press leaks on both sides -- members of DOJ and the grand jury -- occurred in violation of secrecy Rule 6(e) regarding Grand Jury information, a federal crime punishable by a prison sentence. The public contest led to U.S. Congressional oversight committee hearings chaired by Congressman Howard Wolpe, which issued subpoenas to DOJ principals despite several instances of DOJ's refusal to comply. The hearings, whose findings include that the Justice Department had "bargained away the truth,"[23] ultimately still did not fully reveal the special grand jury's report to the public, which remains sealed by the DOJ courts.[24][25]

Reporting of contamination

The special grand jury report was nonetheless leaked to Westword. According to its subsequent publications, the Rocky Flats special grand jury had compiled indictments charging three DOE officials and five Rockwell employees with environmental crimes. The grand jury also wrote a report, intended for the public's consumption per their charter, lambasting the conduct of DOE and Rocky Flats contractors for "engaging in a continuing campaign of distraction, deception and dishonesty" and noted that Rocky Flats, for many years, had discharged pollutants, hazardous materials and radioactive matter into nearby creeks and Broomfield's and Westminster's water supplies.[26]

The DOE itself, in a study released in December of the year prior to the FBI raid, had called Rocky Flats' ground water the single greatest environmental hazard at any of its nuclear facilities.[27]

Despite plutonium incineration and accidental fires that began in the 1950s, including the major plutonium fires of 1957 and 1969, airborne-become-groundborne radioactive contamination extending well throughout the downtown Denver area and beyond from Rocky Flats was not publicly reported until beginning in the 1970s by way of isopleth maps showing the contamination in millicuries of plutonium per square kilometer (Carl J. Johnson, Cancer Incidence in an Area Contaminated with Radionuclides Near a Nuclear Installation, AMBIO, 10, 4, October 1981, page 177 and Table 3).[28]

Independent researchers also discovered cesium-137 and strontium-90 near the Rocky Flats plant, providing evidence to the suspicion that each of the major fires and explosions in 1957 and 1969 had involved a criticality accident. Rocky Flats officials denied that criticality had ever taken place at their facility.[29] In the 1969 fire an explosion occurred in the ventilation system whose filters had initially trapped a good deal of escaping plutonium oxide before they were in turn destroyed, releasing Pu-239 to the atmosphere.[28] [28][30]

As documented in FBI reports and court records, FBI agents and prosecutors became aware that Rockwell workers had been mixing hazardous and other wastes with concrete to create one-ton solid blocks called pondcrete. These were stored in the open under tarps on asphalt pads. The workers had also directed liquid contamination into a series of holding ponds, even after regulators had closed the ponds due to ground-water contamination. Liquid from the sewage plant, meanwhile, had been "spray irrigated" over fields via sprinklers, mainly to avoid the cost --and the regulatory and public reviews -- that would come from directly discharging the contaminated waste into creeks.

The pondcrete turned out to be weak storage. Relatively unprotected from the elements, the blocks began to leak and sag. Nitrates, cadmium and low-level radioactive waste -- some of which with a 24,000-year half-life -- began to leach into the ground and run downhill toward Walnut and Woman Creek. There they would sometimes meet the liquids from the sprinklers, for they also had run-off that flowed into the creeks.[31]

Most of the plutonium from Rocky Flats was oxidized plutonium, which does not readily dissolve in water. In terms of waterborne Pu-239 contamination, a large portion of the plutonium released into the creeks sank to the bottom and is now found in the streambeds of Walnut and Woman Creeks, and on the bottom of local public reservoirs just outside of Rocky Flats: Great Western Reservoir, no longer used for city of Broomfied consumption as of 1997, and Standley Lake, a drinking water supply for the cities of Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn and some residents of Federal Heights.[32]

Additionally, thousands of 55-gallon drums of nuclear waste from milling operations were stored outside in an unprotected earthen area called the 903 pad storage area, where they corroded and leaked radionuclides over years into the soil and water. An estimated 5,000 gallons of plutonium-contaminated oil leached into the soil between 1964 and 1967.[33] Portions of this high-level radioactive waste became airborne in the heavy winds of the Front Range, with Denver being downwind.[7][6][34][35]

Withheld records

The final contamination levels of Rocky Flats itself as measured by the U.S. government after the Superfund cleanup, and those reported to an impanelled grand jury, are sealed records and have not been reported to the public. Denver area key leaders in both educating the public and pursuing contamination information that remains withheld by the U.S. Government include Dr. Leroy Brown, a Boulder scientist, retired FBI Special Agent Jon Lipsky,[36] who led the FBI's raid of the Rocky Flats plant to investigate illegal plutonium burning and other environmental crimes and Wes McKinley, who was the foreman of the grand jury investigation into the operations at Rocky Flats and is today a Colorado State Representative.[2][37][17]

Former grand jury foreman McKinley chronicles his experiences in the 2004 book he co-authored with attorney Caron Balkany, The Ambushed Grand Jury, which begins with an open letter to the U.S. Congress from Special Agent Lipsky:

I am an FBI agent. My superiors have ordered me to lie about a criminal investigation I headed in 1989. We were investigating the US Department of Energy, but the US Justice Department covered up the truth.

I have refused to follow the orders to lie about what really happened during that criminal investigation at Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. Instead, I have told the author of this book the truth. Her promise to me if I told here what really happened was that she would put it in a book to tell Congress and the American people.

Some dangerous decisions are now being made based on that government cover-up. Please read this book. I believe you know what needs to happen.

— [38]

Effects on health

Despite the fact that elevated levels of plutonium have been found in dead bone-cancer victims such as 11 year-old Kristen Haag, whose home was six miles away from Rocky Flats, related long-term health studies for the general population of the Greater Denver Metropolitan Area do not exist and are not on-going as of 2011.[39]

An early, focused study by Dr. Carl Johnson, health director for Jefferson County, showed a 45 percent increase in congenital birth defects in Denver suburbs downwind of Rocky Flats compared to the rest of Colorado. Moreover, he found increased cancer rates for those living closer to the plant, and he estimated 491 excess cancer cases whereas the DOE estimated one. Real estate interests pressed the county to fire Johnson, claiming his findings hurt their industry. After electing a real estate investor to the county board, they succeeded.[28][40][page needed]

Other effects

Denver's automotive beltway to this day lacks for a component in the northwest sector due to this radioactive contamination, which prevailing winds have blown towards downtown both at the time of the fires and over time. As plutonium has a 24,000-year half-life, nearly all of the contamination not removed by remediation continues to exist in the Denver area environment in both scattered and contained forms. U.S. Government efforts to make the area surrounding the former plant into the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge have been controversial due to the pervasive contamination, much of which is underground and not remediated.[41][3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "The September 1957 Rocky Flats fire: A guide to records series of the Department of Energy". United States Department of Energy. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Rocky Flats Nuclear Site Too Hot for Public Access, Citizens Warn". Environment News Service. August 5, 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Hooper, Troy (August 4, 2011). "Invasive weeds raise nuclear concerns at Rocky Flats". The Colorado Independent. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  4. ^ http://www.colorado.edu/journalism/cej/exhibit/1969fire07-04.html
  5. ^ Johnson, Carl J. (1981). "Cancer Incidence in an Area Contaminated with Radionuclides Near a Nuclear Installation". AMBIO. 10 (4): 176–182. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b c Moore, LeRoy (1992). 1957: Fateful Year for the Nuclear Weapons Industry (PDF). Environmental Consequences of Producing Nuclear Weapons. Chelyabinsk, Russia. Retrieved September 17, 2011. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b "Rocky Flats Virtual Museum". University of Colorado at Boulder. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  8. ^ Moore 2007, pp. 87–89.
  9. ^ “Atomic Plant Fire Causes $50,000 Loss,” Denver Post, 12 September 1957.
  10. ^ http://www.rockyflatsnuclearguardianship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/leroy-moore-papers/dem-public-heath-at-rf-12-10.pdf, Page 3
  11. ^ "Citizen Summary: Rocky Flats Historical Public Exposures Studies". Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  12. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/us/us-shares-blame-in-abuses-at-a-plant.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm
  13. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-08/magazine/tm-21814_1_rocky-flats/4
  14. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-08/magazine/tm-21814_1_rocky-flats
  15. ^ http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-11-22/news/9011220359_1_plutonium-rocky-flats-sanchini
  16. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-15/magazine/tm-24105_1_rocky-flats-grand-jury/6
  17. ^ a b Hardesty, Greg (March 29, 2006). "Retired FBI agent helped close nuclear-weapons site". The Orange County Register. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  18. ^ http://www.westword.com/content/printVersion/224917/
  19. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/us/us-shares-blame-in-abuses-at-a-plant.html?src=pm
  20. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-08/magazine/tm-21814_1_rocky-flats/9
  21. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-15/magazine/tm-24105_1_rocky-flats-grand-jury
  22. ^ Prosecuting U.S. attorney Fimberg changed his last name to Scott after the Rocky Flats deliberations were finalized; see The Ambushed Grand Jury, page 118.
  23. ^ "The Ambushed Grand Jury," Chapter 6, page 98.
  24. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-15/magazine/tm-24105_1_rocky-flats-grand-jury
  25. ^ "The Ambushed Grand Jury," Chapter 6, Note 54.
  26. ^ http://archive.boulderweekly.com/010605/coverstory.html
  27. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-15/magazine/tm-24105_1_rocky-flats-grand-jury/2
  28. ^ a b c d Moore 2007.
  29. ^ http://archive.boulderweekly.com/010605/coverstory.html
  30. ^ "Rocky Flats Historical Public Exposures Studies: Soil and Sediment Study Summary". Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  31. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-08/magazine/tm-21814_1_rocky-flats/7
  32. ^ http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/rf/contamin.htm
  33. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-08/magazine/tm-21814_1_rocky-flats
  34. ^ "Summary of Findings: Rocky Flats Public Exposure Studies: Key questions addressed by the research". Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  35. ^ "Rocky Flats Virtual Museum: The Fire Was Inevitable". University of Colorado at Boulder. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  36. ^ http://archive.boulderweekly.com/010605/coverstory.html
  37. ^ Wald, Matthew L. (March 13, 2004). "Book Says U.S. Aides Lied In Nuclear-Arms Plant Case". The New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  38. ^ McKinley, Wes; Balkany, Caron (2004). The Ambushed Grand Jury: How the Justice Department Covered up Government Nuclear Crimes and How We Caught Them Red Handed. New York: Apex Press. ISBN 978-1-891843-28-0.
  39. ^ Wasserman, Harvey; Solomon, Norman (1982). "Bomb Production at Rocky Flats: Death Downwind". Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America's Experience with Atomic Radiation. New York: Dell. ISBN 978-0440045670. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  40. ^ Weyler, Rex (2004). Greenpeace: How a group of journalists, ecologists and visionaries changed the world. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books. ISBN 978-1-59486-106-2.
  41. ^ Moore, LeRoy (April 28, 2011). "Plutonium: The Jefferson Parkway`s biggest problem". Camera. Retrieved September 17, 2011.

References

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