View Full Version : Rocky Flats
Uberjager
10-22-2012, 23:38
So I've been talking with an engineer, who worked there during it's heyday, and my oh my does he have crazy stories.
Apparently when a new building was being constructed, excavators hit plutonium that had been carelessly buried in the 50's, so the excavators were cut apart with a laser, and sent to Idaho where they could be disposed of along with the plutonium. I've also heard of several small plutonium fires that happened, but apparently they got taken care of right away.
When my mom was in college, her chemistry professor worked there, and he was hospitalized for four months after touching a crate.
Anyone have any stories about this crazy place?
I know a guy that is dying from cancer from working there. 20 of the 22 guys that worked on that program have died of cancer and the two still alive currently have cancer.
My Uncle retired from the DOE there. He has had horrible eye issues (Graves disease) ever since. I have heard some stuff but I couldn't imagine what kinda crap you'd see working there.
BTW great bar over by there (Forget the name) but have an awesome burger and a fresh fish fry once a week.
jhood001
10-23-2012, 00:21
BTW great bar over by there (Forget the name) but have an awesome burger and a fresh fish fry once a week.
The name is tricky - Rocky Flats Lounge. [ROFL1]
And they have FRIED CHEESE CURDS!
If you're the sick sort and you're a Packers fan, it is THE place to be for games.
Richard K
10-23-2012, 00:41
Before I retired I was the only LEO in my Dept. with a Q clearance and allowed to enter building 9 or 109 (I forget which). Luckily, I never had to.
The name is tricky - Rocky Flats Lounge. [ROFL1]
And they have FRIED CHEESE CURDS!
If you're the sick sort and you're a Packers fan, it is THE place to be for games.
[ROFL1] looong night at the .gov man [LOL]
Big Wall
10-23-2012, 09:31
In '97 or '98 I worked as a tour bus driver. I got to take a bunch of Russian officials to visit Rocky Flats as part of a you show us your clean up attempts and we will show you ours kind of deal. I thought I would be sitting in the bus all day, but they asked for my id and after a quick background check I got to go along on the tour.
Interesting bits:
1 The worst of the mess was caused by Coors making porcelian there.
2 They paved a parking lot over an area of contaminated ground and had to buy everyone who parked there a new car.
3 Their cover story was that they were a Saran-Wrap factory. They even gave the employees Saran-Wrap coupons to hand out at Christmas time.
4 We suited up and toured one of the clean up areas. At one point the lady giving the tour said "I can't tell you what this is but if you use your imagination you can figure it out." It was the form for hydrolically pressing the outer cover for the warheads. We had to stand in a sensor when we left the area to make sure we weren't contaminated.
5 All of the signs in the clean up area were in both english and russian as part of the tour each other's sites agreement.
I can't confirm this but, I met a guy once who said that he worked at Rocky Flats. He said that he was watching a tv show about biological weapons. He said all of a sudden a picture of him came on and he was bottling up biological weapons. He said that he had no idea what he was doing when he worked there.
JM Ver. 2.0
10-23-2012, 09:42
My grandfather worked there... He shot uranium and plutonium with lasers and measured the purity.
whichfinger
10-23-2012, 10:39
One of my uncles worked there in the 50s and 60s. It killed him.
JohnnyEgo
10-23-2012, 11:02
My father took a couple of tours of the place back in it's heyday. He was an engineer who worked on high level and low level nuclear waste disposal. He turned out fine, and I can crawl up walls!
BushMasterBoy
10-23-2012, 11:34
FBI raided the place after much illegal activity. The place is contaminated with plutonium. Same stuff that killed my dad at Johnston Atoll. Don't worry all the radioactivity will die down in 56,000 years. Not sure I would eat any wildlife that visited the area either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Pla nt
DD977GM2
10-23-2012, 13:52
I can't confirm this but, I met a guy once who said that he worked at Rocky Flats. He said that he was watching a tv show about biological weapons. He said all of a sudden a picture of him came on and he was bottling up biological weapons. He said that he had no idea what he was doing when he worked there.
That could have been just a generic picture or clip of him that they edited from
a diffrent video. The war scream on Gladiator in the beginning is actually the
war scream from Zulu as a reference.
My father took a couple of tours of the place back in it's heyday. He was an engineer who worked on high level and low level nuclear waste disposal. He turned out fine, and I can crawl up walls!
My father does something similar still and he was invovled in the clean up of the site. He won't go into much detail but he has a very offical letter stating he had been exposed to radiation at one point. I will try to find it, it was somewhat amussing how blasé they were about it.
JohnnyEgo
10-23-2012, 15:40
What's a few hundred roentgens amongst friends?
Uberjager
10-23-2012, 16:30
Geez, I've read up on it more, and there was a Plutonium fire that almost turned Denver into a Chernobyl!
electronman1729
10-23-2012, 18:36
I drive down Indiana from 128th to where it dead ends (64th I think) every day to get to work. It looks like houses are going up over where the plant used to be.
Didn't that site have a pond around it too? I remember that the DOW used to let people fish on it, but that was years ago.
My best friends dad who I hunt with every year is 54, worked security for the flats for over 20 years has no problems.
Didn't that site have a pond around it too? I remember that the DOW used to let people fish on it, but that was years ago.
you can catch one of these.....
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/rruusseell1/MutantFish_zps3972825c.gif
New a guy who was fairly high up in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Quit that to work for a "clean up" contractor. Made a fortune.
gnihcraes
10-23-2012, 20:58
I did some computer repair work out there in the late 80's. Maybe that is the cause of all my problems... maybe it wasn't just printer toner dust I cleaned out.
fairrpe86
10-23-2012, 21:29
A buddy of mine was a firefighter out there for a few years, once they closed down the department, he moved down to Amarillo to work at Pantex, both jobs with the DOE. He said there were some buildings at RF that he hoped to never enter again, let alone fight fire in them. He mentioned something about certain doors being able to pinch off fire hose and other crazy things like that.
Whatever you do, never step foot on that ground ever again. Ever.
I have wondered about the large amount of housing developments going up in that area. Sure as hell would not buy a home there.
What nobody wants to buy one of these? http://www.liveforward.com/ [NoEvil]
Needless to say I would not buy a home out there. Three generations of my family worked out there and I have heard waaay too many stories about the crap that happened there and still buried in the ground out there.
crashdown
10-24-2012, 10:39
What nobody wants to buy one of these? http://www.liveforward.com/ [NoEvil]
Needless to say I would not buy a home out there. Three generations of my family worked out there and I have heard waaay too many stories about the crap that happened there and still buried in the ground out there.
I drive by that every day... kinda wondered how building there would be safe.
They are claiming that these are supposed to be super energy efficient homes.
Maybe they are warmed by the crap in the ground. I don't want to live anywhere that the lights still glow after you turn off the switch.
I did some computer repair work out there in the late 80's. Maybe that is the cause of all my problems... maybe it wasn't just printer toner dust I cleaned out.
Ok...2 stories about the place.
First off I knew someone who worked for the cleanup. During normal operations there was about 2lbs of plutonium that came up missing. The cleanup crew ended up recovering most of it. It was lining the ventilation system of several of the buildings...thus it also had been circulating in the air...coating everything. People breathing it. Eating it. On everything touched.
Second story. I play paintball and for years had a standing offer of a chance to buy a mess of paintguns...that were used for training out at Rocky Flats. The owner of The Paintpellet Game offered to get them for me every time I visited his store. I never bought any as I suspected that they might glow in the dark. In recent years I am more and more sure they probably were ...irradiated.
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