Rocky Flats

[kidicarus13]

I just finishing up a book about Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant- The Ambushed Grand Jury. Interesting book. Did anyone work there previously? Any good stories you could share?

[trlcavscout]

I work with a guy that worked security there. He has some good stories, they almost shot down a news helo when it wouldnt leave their air space.

[WETWRKS]

For years I had an oppertunity to purchase a mess of paintguns that they used for training there. They would have needed to be converted from .62 cal to .68 to be useable and the price wasn't in line to make it feasable. Every time I was offered them in the back of my head I though they probably glowed in the dark...after all the info that has come out about the place that may not have been too far from the truth.

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

The couple times I was sent out there during cleanup, I swore I could feel the radiation or something........the guys that were working on site swore it was safe and the feeling was in my head. They also suggested I not blow out air filters and just replace them, LOL.

[opie011]

A friends dad worked security there, he has some awesome stories!!

[kidicarus13]

Built on the Rocky Flats southern border
http://candelaslife.reachlocal.net/area-map

There must be a lot of naive people out there.

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

That's as cool as "Reunion" LOL. Chemical weapons? Pesticides? What arsenal? That's a game reserve..............

[electronman1729]

My dad used to do some work there. Told me stories about how the floors were recessed to contain floods.

[Dave]

My father in law worked there for a while as a contracted safety consultant. Got ressigned by his company after telling the people at Rocky Flats that when they filled in a few of the bottom floors of a subterranean building that they hadn't used the right materials and procedures. Wouldn't tell me what they were having to fill in for, just that there is no way it would be safe to live there, drink water from there or eat meat from animals that live there. He did mention seeing experiments where they had multisectional, hydraulically controlled tables with fissile materials on them and the scientists would see how long they could keep multiple sub-critical masses of weapons grade plutonium or uranium revolving around each other and see how close together and how fast they could get them moving while not achieving a criticality incident. From how fast they worked and what they were using to fill in the sub floors something might have went wrong in one of these experiments as they used lead and no equipment was removed prior to filling in. If something like that did happen you're talking a release of up to 10k rads. No official record of a criticality are to be found for Rocky Flats though, so it may be for something else that happened.

[jhood001]

Built on the Rocky Flats southern border
http://candelaslife.reachlocal.net/area-map (http://candelaslife.reachlocal.net/area-map)

There must be a lot of naive people out there.

I've heard that you have to sign a release when you purchase there that removes all liability from the developer for any physical ailments you might develop from exposure to radioactive material. No shit.

[electronman1729]

I've heard that you have to sign a release when you purchase there that removes all liability from the developer for any physical ailments you might develop from exposure to radioactive material. No shit.


At least the gardens will spit out 50lb tomatoes

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

44055

[sniper7]

My best friends dad was one of the last security guys there. I'm positive he knows every guy you guys mentioned that worked security. He has told me the story about the news copter as well. Also has pictures of him and another guy with ARs in front of a down Schweitzer hello that ran out of gas and autorotated on property.

they got to play with some fun toys out there!

[BushMasterBoy]

Beryllium is really bad stuff...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469682/

[kidicarus13]

they got to play with some fun toys out there!

I know the special response team trained with SAWs and I've heard rumors of surface-to-air missiles. I also know the team would escort the nuclear weapon triggers off RF's property and they were heavily armed.

[Wulf202]

I have fun stories about Hanford.

[Ah Pook]

I have fun stories about Hanford.
Fluor Daniel?

[WETWRKS]

The gist of what I know about the site is that they came up missing a fair amount of radioactive material and during the clean up it was (or at least most of it was) recovered...it was lining the air ducts.

I also read a bit of material that a secretary there wrote...about radioactive material being mixed into cement and poured into molds to from large blocks...and that a year later some of the blocks still hadn't hardened. Other molds that leaked the mix into the ground there and she claimed it ended up in the water supply for Arvada.

[Jamnanc]

I think there was an insane fire there at one point. If it's true, they thought it would be a good idea to case the nuclear material in magnesium.

From on a guy who trained there during the closure as a hazmat firefighter.

[drift_g35]

Didn't they cause small earthquakes throughout Denver by digging too deep out there?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[Rabid]

I think there was an insane fire there at one point. If it's true, they thought it would be a good idea to case the nuclear material in magnesium.

From on a guy who trained there during the closure as a hazmat firefighter.
I know there was a fire and it was the most expensive industrial clean up until then. They also had some sort of large leak of radioactive material outside that became aerosolized when the wind blew the dirt. If our snowy mountains can turn pink from a dust storm in Mongolia i am sure anywhere east of the flats got a fair amount of radioactive material dust.

Is this book about FBI/EPA raid and what happen afterward with the cover up?

[Graves]

My best friends dad was one of the last security guys there. I'm positive he knows every guy you guys mentioned that worked security. He has told me the story about the news copter as well. Also has pictures of him and another guy with ARs in front of a down Schweitzer hello that ran out of gas and autorotated on property.

they got to play with some fun toys out there!

A perforated tank is bound to run out of fuel quite quickly. ;)

[kidicarus13]

They also had some sort of large leak of radioactive material outside that became aerosolized when the wind blew the dirt. If our snow mountains can turn pink from a dust storm in Mongolia i am sure anywhere east of the flats got a fair amount of radioactive material dust.

Is this book about FBI/EPA raid and what happen afterward with the cover up?

Ya, that's the same book.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/26/ydu8yvug.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/26/nyreseja.jpg

[cofi]

What is it?

[kidicarus13]

What is it?

Not so good places to raise your children.

[BPTactical]

Didn't they cause small earthquakes throughout Denver by digging too deep out there?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Your thinking of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, NE of Commerce City. They were a huge research and manufacturing facility for chemical weapons back in the day. Supposedly Agent Orange was invented and produced there.
They pumped large amounts of failed projects and waste material deep underground, which lubricated the bedrock causing them to slip often. The Feds made them stop "disposing" of the waste in such fashion and the shakes stopped. Then they just poured the stuff into holding ponds to burn it or let it evaporate. Read about the "basins" out there.
I played hockey with a HazMat mitigation guy who worked out there during the clean up.
He said there was stuff there that if you fell in it your skin would fall off.
The ponds were drained and capped but allegedly there are areas where nothing will grow even though new topsoil was brought in.
Makes me wonder about the controlled burns they have had out there lately.

[68Charger]

I have fun stories about Hanford.

My father grew up in Kennewick... at least his Lymphoma is in remission.

[sniper7]

I know there was a fire and it was the most expensive industrial clean up until then. They also had some sort of large leak of radioactive material outside that became aerosolized when the wind blew the dirt. If our snow mountains can turn pink from a dust storm in Mongolia i am sure anywhere east of the flats got a fair amount of radioactive material dust.

Is this book about FBI/EPA raid and what happen afterward with the cover up?

He told me at first that he shot it down for not clearing the airspace. I was probably 12-13 and obviously believed him since he had the picture and they were holing guns standing in front of it. Only later did I finally hear the truth!

[sniper7]

I know the special response team trained with SAWs and I've heard rumors of surface-to-air missiles. I also know the team would escort the nuclear weapon triggers off RF's property and they were heavily armed.

Yeah he shot the saw, ma deuce mounted on some vehicle I can't remember. Don't know about the SAMs or triggers though.

[Joe_K]

Derp.

[Rabid]

I found a discussion on this book with some of the authors. http://www.c-span.org/video/?181265-1/book-discussion-ambushed-grand-jury-govenment-nuclear-crimes . A lot more happened out there then i knew about, its going on my must read list.

[Wulf202]

My father grew up in Kennewick... at least his Lymphoma is in remission.

Born and raised. Almost my entire family works or worked in the area.

GE, westinghouse, Flour, Bectel, Battel etc.

[crashdown]

I live up and to the west of Rocky Flats. There are some old timers that moved up here when they worked there because it is pretty close. They say the would never live anywhere near or to the east of Rocky Flats......EVER.
I can't imagine anyone would live in that new Candelas subdivision, but it looks like they are gonna start building soon, infrastructure looks to be in place now.

[jhood001]

At least the gardens will spit out 50lb tomatoes

I'm pretty close to Standley Lake. Maybe this explains my carrots?

44081

[buffalobo]

I'm pretty close to Standley Lake. Maybe this explains my carrots?

44081

Wait til you see the bunny.

Lobbed from my electronic ball and chain.

[68Charger]

Born and raised. Almost my entire family works or worked in the area.

GE, westinghouse, Flour, Bectel, Battel etc.

Mine moved to Alaska back in the 60's... My grandma remembers the '64 earthquake.
My father then went to school in Ohio, but we returned to Alaska in 1980.

[HoneyBadger]

The gist of what I know about the site is that they came up missing a fair amount of radioactive material and during the clean up it was (or at least most of it was) recovered...it was lining the air ducts.

I also read a bit of material that a secretary there wrote...about radioactive material being mixed into cement and poured into molds to from large blocks...and that a year later some of the blocks still hadn't hardened. Other molds that leaked the mix into the ground there and she claimed it ended up in the water supply for Arvada.
I would love to hear more stories like this...

[hurley842002]

I would love to hear more stories like this...

Quite a bit on YouTube....

[SideShow Bob]

Check out this site.......

http://www.colorado.edu/Journalism/cej/exhibit/1969fire01-08.html

[HoneyBadger]

Check out this site.......

http://www.colorado.edu/Journalism/cej/exhibit/1969fire01-08.html
Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[BPTactical]

I don't know if its true or not but when I was at NBK-Bangor the story was that if you had a kid it wouldn't be a male due to the radiation. I do not know of any guys stationed there that had boys for at least 3 years after they left.


'Splains a lot......[Coffee]

[Rabid]

I would love to hear more stories like this...
Watch the video in the link i posted.

[HoneyBadger]

Holy crap...


The contamination primarily resulted from two major plutonium fires in 1957 and 1969 (plutonium is pyrophoric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrophoric) and shavings canspontaneously combust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneously_combust)) and from wind-blown plutonium that leaked from barrels of radioactive waste. Much lower concentrations of radioactive isotopes were released throughout the operational life of the plant from 1952 to 1992, from smaller accidents and from normal operational releases of plutonium particles too small to be filtered (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filtered). Prevailing winds from the plant carried airborne contamination south and east, into populated areas northwest of Denver.

The contamination of the Denver area by plutonium from the fires and other sources was not publicly reported until the 1970s. According to a 1972 study coauthored by Edward Martell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Martell), "In the more densely populated areas of Denver, the Pu contamination level in surface soils is several times fallout", and the plutonium contamination "just east of the Rocky Flats plant ranges up to hundreds of times that from nuclear tests."[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Pla nt#cite_note-Poet1972-2) As noted by Carl Johnson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_J._Johnson) in Ambio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambio), "Exposures of a large population in the Denver area to plutonium and other radionuclides in the exhaust plumes from the plant date back to 1953."[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Pla nt#cite_note-Johnson1981-3)

Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nearly all underground contamination was left in place, and measurable radioactive environmental contamination in and around Rocky Flats will probably persist for thousands of years.

[kidicarus13]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0207-07.htm

The refuge, scheduled to partially open in 2007 and be in full operation about 2012, will have hiking trails, interpretive signs and limited hunting. It surrounds the area where the actual nuclear production went on, which will remain closed.


http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/10/rocky_flats_national_wildlife_refuge_week.php

This is National Wildlife Refuge Week, and the feds are encouraging you to "see what wildlife refuges are doing to conserve America's wildlife heritage." But when I asked if I could see Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (http://www.westword.com/2012-09-27/news/rocky-flats-twentieth-anniversary/), the regional U.S. Fish & Wildlife office declined that request, and instead suggested a visit to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/05/post_18.php).


http://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky_flats/
There is currently no public access to Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. For information about our plans for future visitation, please see our Comprehensive Conservation Plan and our plans for future signage about site history and safety considerations.

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

I know where they buried some of the radioactive pavement they tore off some Denver roads too - kinda near a shooting range a ways out east lol. I think that was contaminated from something else though I forget......


So mutant zombie bikers could be a possibility in Colorado?

[TFOGGER]

I know where they buried some of the radioactive pavement they tore off some Denver roads too - kinda near a shooting range a ways out east lol. I think that was contaminated from something else though I forget......


So mutant zombie bikers could be a possibility in Colorado?

Radium tailings mixed into the asphalt they used to pave Denver streets in the 60s. There's a superfund site somewhere down by the old Gates Rubber plant where they basically just poured concrete over the tailings pile from the old mill.

[RonMexico]

I'm pretty close to Standley Lake. Maybe this explains my carrots?

44081

I can't believe they are selling houses for $300+k which share a property line with rocky flats.

[drift_g35]

I can't believe they are selling houses for $300+k which share a property line with rocky flats.

We just need to get all the people emigrating from California to move into that neighborhood.

Too harsh?

[BPTactical]

Radium tailings mixed into the asphalt they used to pave Denver streets in the 60s. There's a superfund site somewhere down by the old Gates Rubber plant where they basically just poured concrete over the tailings pile from the old mill.

Shattuck Chemical:
http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/NRDA/Shattuck/index.html

The aquifer under the capped pile of rock runs straight to the Platte.

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

Radium tailings mixed into the asphalt they used to pave Denver streets in the 60s. There's a superfund site somewhere down by the old Gates Rubber plant where they basically just poured concrete over the tailings pile from the old mill.

Yeah, I got to service some machines by Gates that also requested me to change air filters and not blow them out :p There is a toxic waste dump out by Lead Valley near Deer Trail that has some of the radioactive asphalt buried in an area.....along with a ton of chemicals and asbestos in other areas.

[cofi]

and i thought the pueblo steel mill was bad

[kidicarus13]

Rocky Flats contaminates also dumped near Lowery?
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10600.htm

[hurley842002]

Rocky Flats contaminates also dumped near Lowery?
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10600.htm

Now there is a prison sitting on top of it...

[Rabid]

We just need to get all the people emigrating from California to move into that neighborhood.

Too harsh?
Your a genius.


Now there is a prison sitting on top of it...
I had to used google maps but your right there is a youth corrections center out there now. No need for the question mark kidcarus13 stuff was dumped there. This is the old Lowery bombing range i.e. Aurora reservoir and a bunch of land around it, if you run over it in google maps you can see bomb craters and you can also find ICBM complexes. Another little fact is there was a bunch of depleted uranium testing done out there in anything from small arms to AP bombs and missiles.

[Firehaus]

I'm driving by Candelas today and wondered if it was named that because you'll glow like a candle after living there?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kidicarus13]

For those interested in the topic... http://arvadacenter.org/pages/arvada-center-to-host-rocky-flats-then-and-now-25-years-after-the-raid