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Background on the Site's Contamination
The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) was a DOE environmental cleanup site located about 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver. Today more than 2.5 million people live within a 50-mile radius of the Site, and 300,000 of those live in the Rocky Flats watershed. From 1952 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant made components for the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal using various radioactive and hazardous materials, including plutonium and uranium, toxic metals such as beryllium, and hazardous chemicals such as cleaning solvents and degreasers.
The key component produced at Rocky Flats was the plutonium pit, commonly referred to as the “trigger.” The pit provided energy to fuel the explosion of a nuclear weapon. In 1989, the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) abruptly halted nuclear production work to investigate environmental and safety concerns, and the Site was added to the Superfund list later that year. In 1993, the Secretary of Energy announced the end of the Rocky Flats nuclear production mission. Nearly 40 years of nuclear weapons production left behind a legacy of contaminated facilities, soils, surface water, and groundwater. Accordingly, RFETS was designated as an EPA Superfund cleanup site.
The sudden shutdown left large quantities of plutonium and other hazardous substances in various stages of processing and storage. Because plutonium is dangerous to human health, even in minute quantities, the cleanup of plutonium-contaminated materials is complex, tedious, labor intensive, and slow. In March 1995, DOE estimated the cleanup for Rocky Flats would cost in excess of $37 billion and take 70 years to complete. By 1996 DOE and Kaiser-Hill had initiated efforts that eventually resulted in a credible plan to accelerate the closure of Rocky Flats by December 31, 2006, at
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From 1952 to 1989, the primary mission of the Rocky Flats Plant was making components for nuclear weapons. A raid in 1989 by the FBI and the EPA for alleged environmental violations resulted in an abrupt halt to nuclear material production. Large quantities of plutonium and other hazardous materials were left in various stages of processing and storage, as shown in the top photo of the Building 707 storage area. The environmental cleanup was originally estimated to cost more than $37 billion and take more than 70 years to accomplish.
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