This story originally ran Oct. 14, 2005
Kaiser-Hill Co. officials on Thursday said they have completed the $7 billion Rocky Flats cleanup – a major milestone in the former nuclear-trigger plant’s transformation into a public wildlife refuge.
The cleanup is the largest completed on a U.S. Department of Energy or federal Superfund toxic-waste site, project managers said.
More than 21 tons of weapons-grade nuclear material was removed, enough radioactive waste to fill a string of rail cars 90 miles long.
“When we came on board, none of this had ever been done before,” said John Corsi, a Kaiser spokesman. “There were no models for us to follow.”
The Energy Department has 90 days to accept the project and can ask Kaiser-Hill to address anything it finds unsatisfactory.
After that, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state health officials must verify that the work meets cleanup guidelines.
Rocky Flats produced plutonium triggers from 1952 to 1989 for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Every nuclear weapon in the current stockpile contains the Rocky Flats-produced component, which would help detonate the bigger bomb.
The plant, however, also left behind a trail of hazardous and radioactive contamination. At one time, the 6,500-acre site contained a building that was so contaminated with plutonium, it was widely known as “the most dangerous building in America.”
A 1994 DOE study estimated the cleanup would take 60 years and $37 billion.
Since the cleanup began in 1995, questions have been raised about its thoroughness. This summer, Kaiser-Hill discovered more than a dozen radioactive “hot spots” near an area where barrels containing plutonium-laced oil were stored.
“The question has always been about the cleanup standards: How clean is clean,” said Len Ackland, a University of Colorado professor and author of “Making a Real Killing: Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West.”
Once the site becomes a refuge, it will feature hiking trails, bike paths and horse-riding trails, refuge managers have said. All but about 1,000 acres will be accessible to the public.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., helped to pass the legislation establishing Rocky Flats as a refuge.
“Rocky Flats is the best example of a nuclear cleanup success story ever,” Allard said.
