[CPEO-MEF] Rocky Flats (CO) cleanup

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Science-based cleanup of Rocky Flats

The chemical and physical interactions of radioactive compounds are key 
to understanding how they can contaminate the environment and, more 
importantly, how best to remove them.

David L. Clark, David R. Janecky, and Leonard J. Lane
Physics Today
September 2006

From 1952 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, located about 
24 km northwest of Denver, Colorado, made components for the nation's 
nuclear arsenal using various radioactive materials, including plutonium 
and uranium; toxic metals such as beryllium; and hazardous solvents, 
degreasers, and other chemicals. The key component produced at Rocky 
Flats was the plutonium pit, commonly referred to as the trigger for a 
nuclear weapon. The pit provides energy to fuel the explosion.

In 1989 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental 
Protection Agency abruptly halted nuclear production work to investigate 
environmental and safety concerns, and the site was added to the EPA's 
Superfund list later that year. In 1993 the secretary of energy 
announced the end of the nuclear production mission, and the area became 
known as the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) in 1995. 
Nearly 40 years of nuclear weapons production left behind contaminated 
facilities, soils, and surface and ground water.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-59/iss-9/p34.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military