Notable case, Golden (circa 15 miglia a nord-ovest di Denver), Colorado, United States
Rocky Flats Plant
The plant that from 1952 to 1992 made the plutonium pits for US nuclear weapons. Fires and leaking drums spread plutonium into the soil; in 1989 the FBI raided it for environmental crimes.
At a glance
- Status
- Contained
- Area
- 526 ha on land1
- Activity
- 1952–1992
- Media
- soil, groundwater, surface water, air
- Kind of site
- nuclear, military
- National list
- Listed 1989National Priorities List
- Area. Central Operable Unit kept by the Department of Energy, about 1,300 acres (526 ha). Roughly another 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) were transferred in 2007 as a wildlife refuge.
Contaminants
National list
On the list (final)United States
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)
- Listed
- 1989
- Official id
- CO7890010526 ↗
About this list
The list of contaminated sites that are national priorities for federal clean-up under CERCLA (Superfund, 1980), kept by EPA (40 CFR Part 300, Appendix B). Listing makes a site eligible for long-term remedial action paid by the Superfund; sites are proposed and then listed through Federal Register notices, and deleted when no further response is needed.
Includes federal facilities (Defense, Energy). Dates are the years of the Federal Register notices (final listing, deletion); 'listed' is empty for proposed sites. Some sites still on the list have had partial deletions. Contaminants and media: contaminants of concern from decision documents (RODs, ROD amendments, ESDs; EPA, fiscal years 1981-2024, SEMS document HQ/406315); for sites with no decision document (mostly proposed or recently listed) the contaminants are those EPA records for the site (FOIA-015, document HQ/406366), with no medium. 'Deleted' means EPA found no further response needed, which can include land-use controls still in force.
Status
Contained
Cleanup declared complete in October 2005, with regulatory closure in 2006. The central area is monitored by DOE with five-year reviews: the last was in 2022 and the next is due by August 2027.
Story
Rocky Flats was run by Dow Chemical from 1952 to 1975 and then by Rockwell International. It made plutonium components for nuclear warheads. Two fires, in 1957 and 1969, and leaks from drums stored on the 903 pad released plutonium to the environment. Other contaminants include americium, uranium, beryllium, tritium and carbon tetrachloride.
On 6 June 1989 the FBI raided the plant (Operation Desert Glow); Rockwell settled with an $18.5 million fine. Production ended in 1992. The buildings were demolished and cleanup was declared complete in 2005. In 2007 about 4,000 acres of buffer zone became the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, while the central area stays with the Department of Energy.
Timeline
- 1952Production begins.
- 1957Fire in a plutonium processing building.
- 1969Second major fire.
- 1989FBI raid.
- 1992Production ends.
- 2005Cleanup declared complete; the site passes to the Office of Legacy Management.
- 2007National wildlife refuge established.
Health
Several cancer incidence studies (1998, 2016, 2017, 2019) found no higher rates in nearby communities than in the Denver metropolitan area, as summarised by Wikipedia.
Remediation
- 2005demolition and soil removalPlant demolition and soil cleanup, completed in 2005; long-term monitoring of the central area.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Helianthus annuusSunflowerUraniumEvidence: field
- Populus × generosaHybrid poplar (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: field
- Populus × canadensisCanadian poplar (P. deltoides × P. nigra)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Fungi
- Funneliformis mosseaeUraniumEvidence: greenhouse
- Rhizophagus irregularisUraniumEvidence: laboratory
- Saccharomyces cerevisiaeBaker's yeast, brewer's yeastUraniumEvidence: laboratory
- Trametes versicolorTurkey tailChlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Sources
- Rocky Flats Site, Colorado, US Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management, 2026
- Rocky Flats Plant, Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.