Rocky Flats Plant
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Rocky Flats Plant was a weapons production facility of the Atomic Energy Commission about 15 miles northwest of Denver, Colorado on a windy plateau called Rocky Flats. It operated from 1952 to 1989 and in 1992 cleanup began. About half of the 800 buildings had been dismantled by early December, 2004 in preparation for the site's use as a National Wildlife Refuge.
The primary purpose of the Rocky Flats Plant was the manufacuture of plutonium triggers, or "pits", which were used at a plant in Amarillo, Texas which assembled nuclear weapons. The production facilities consisted of linked stainless steel gloveboxes which contained the equipment which forged and machined the parts for the triggers. Actual gloves were lead lined, other materials used in the gloveboxes, which were of industrial size, up to 64 feet in length, included plexiglass viewing windows and Benelex shielding, composed of wood fiber and plastic, which shielded against neutron radiation.
Rocky flats was the site of a fire in 1969 which started in oily rags inside a glovebox in a production facility. Experience gained during an earlier fire in 1958 helped in fighting the fire which was contained, but is nevertheless considered one of the worst industrial accidents in US history [1] (http://www.racteam.com/Experience/Publications/RF_1969_Fire_Source_Term.htm). See List of nuclear accidents. At the time of the fire the plant was being operated by the Dow Chemical Company.
Due to fires (principally the fire in 1957) and other inadvertent releases (principly due to wind at a waste storage area) the site is contaminated with plutonium. The other major contaminant is carbon tetrachloride. Both of these substances affected areas adjacent to the site. There were also small releases dioxin (from incineration), beryllium and tritium. Studies of contamination were conducted by the Risk Assessment Corporation (http://www.racteam.com/index.html/index.htm) which has conducted studies at other US nuclear facilities (http://www.racteam.com/Experience/Projects/Projects.htm).
External links
- WikiFlats (http://www.wikiflats.org) A young wiki devoted to Rocky Flats.
- Brief history of cleanup of the site (http://www.racteam.com/Experience/Projects/RockyFlats.htm#RockyFlats)