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    rockyflats

    Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant Meeting - Cover-up

    Here is what one activist, Susan Elofson-Hurst, said afterward: "I was at the Sharing session at the Arvada Center last night; the only ones allowed to share were the speakers. It seemed obvious that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife staff is afraid of what the public has to say. This is a tactic that CDPHE adopted many years ago so the could sidestep any criticism. The response from the public was overwhelmingly NOT in favor of the Wildlife Refuge being opened to the public. These are the question I had for the speakers last night: • It appeared that “dose” to individuals was based on exposure to plutonium (Pu). Since the Aerial Gamma Survey from 20 years ago showed an Americium (Am) field approaching Indiana Street, are any Am exposures being taken into account?

    • David Lucas, Refuge Manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a statement that there were a “few” barrels out of the 5,000 Pu contaminated lathe oil drums that leaked. After years of sitting out in the weather, almost all of the drums leaked into the dirt and were empty. If this is the kind of “facts” Mr. Lucas feels will keep his staff and kids visiting the site safe, we are all in grave danger. I’ve read the documents, all 136 boxes that I donated to CU Archives. This site is not and will not be safe to hike or bike in. I wouldn’t take my dog out for walk there. Keep it closed, what’s the hurry? Is there some bonus waiting for someone to “hit the milestones” for public “buy-in?"”
      The PR flack running the meeting would not let the public speak to the meeting or ask questions in public. Ann Fenerty, with a masters in chemistry, tried to use the microphone to talk about the plant being superfund site. The PR flack took the mike out of Ann's hands and would not let her speak. So some of us did the "Occupy mike check" version of a loudspeaker where we loudly repeated what Ann said. We were told to go into corners and talk amongst ourselves. There were many good activists there though, and they did talk. Leroy Moore wrote that they sampled nothing below six feet. Building walls were collapsed into their basements and the remains covered with soil. The cleanup was driven by a decision between DOE, Kaiser-Hill and Congress that set a limit of $7 billion and 10 years. It gave bonuses for a quick partial clean-up. Ann had brought a large DOE map showing that Rocky Flats was a superfund site full of contaminated buildings and spray fields. It showed deep underground tunnels for trucks and 4 story underground buildings that were collapsed onto themselves and buried. So that the underground tunnels, pipelines of plutonium, and the contaminated floor slabs were left and buried there.

    rockyflats

    Hearing on Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant Safety Today 5-15

    The plant is being greenwashed- the DOE pretends it is cleaned up by making it a wildlife refuge, which is a way to avoid having to clean it up more fully ( the standards of clean-up are lower for wildlife and for visitors and workers who would be exposed for only 8 hours per day versus for residents who would be exposed 24 hours per day. A wildlife refuge sounds safer than a polluted nuclear weapons plant full of radioactive and solvent hazards. They didn't cleanup the pipes with plutonium when they were below ground more than a certain short depth. They didn't include thyroid cancer in their studies, because it is one of the most common cancers next to nuclear facilities. They didn't collect samples to test where they thought toxics would be, as they didn't want to want to increase the cost and the time for the clean-up. Great article in the Boulder Weekly on the nuclear weapons plant clean-up and a hearing today: USFWS will be holding its ... Rocky Flats Sharing Session, “Safety Concerns and Risk Management,” on Monday, May 15 at the Arvada Center from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Officials from DOE, EPA, CDPHE and USFWS will first speak about potential health risks at the Refuge and later take public comment.

    http://www.boulderweekly.com/news/buried-in-the-past