[CPEO-MEF] Accelerated Cleanup Plan at Rocky Flats

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

The Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2002

U.S. CLEANUP OF NUCLEAR SITES
WILL SOON FACE FIRST TEST

Accelerated Plan Would Turn a Complex
In Rocky Flats, Colo., Into Wildlife Refugee

By: John J. Fialka
Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal

ROCKY FLATS, Colo. -- Building 771, a bunker-like structure here once
known as "the most dangerous building in America," soon will be
pulverized, its lethal debris sealed in barrels and hauled away.

The defense complex at Rocky Flats was the machine shop of the Cold War,
and Building 771 was where hydrogen-bomb triggers were made. Now the site
presents the first big test of the nation's most complex, costly and
dangerous cleanup project. The Department of Energy is trying to remove
toxic and radioactive contamination left at 114 sites around the country
that were used for nuclear-weapons production.
 
When it was proposed eight years ago, this plan was ridiculed as
impossible because estimates showed it might cost between $200 billion
and $350 billion, and take until 2070 to complete. Now federal officials
think they can finish most of the cleanup by 2025, saving tens of
billions of dollars. 

This sprawling complex of 700 buildings just 15 miles northwest of Denver
housed the equipment and foundry used to fashion parts for hydrogen
warheads from plutonium and highly enriched uranium. The original plan
estimated it would take more than 60 years and at least $22 billion to
dismantle Rocky Flats. The new plan is to level it by 2006, at a cost of
just $7 billion -- and to try to turn it into a federal wildlife
refuge.

"When we first heard these numbers we were flabbergasted," says
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "Then we discovered that at least
half of the cost of these things was security and overhead in those far
out years." By spending a few hundred million dollars to close Rocky
Flats early, Mr. Abraham plans to put the savings into a revolving fund
that can be used in turn to clean up other major nuclear sites. The
result, he hopes, will gradually ease the department's workload: About
one of every three dollars in its $21 billion annual budget now is spent
for cleanup projects.

To view this article in full please click on the following link:
WSJ.com
- U.S. Cleanup of Nuclear Sites Will Soon Face First Big Test* 




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aimee R. Houghton                                  
Associate Director, CPEO
1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036
tel: 202-452-8039; fax: 202-452-8095
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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