Editorial re the following article:It's a shame that a large portion of this money will go into Public Relations
efforts to desensitize the public to the danger of this site, instead of appropriate
monitoring and cleanup activities. The Industrial Area will have some cleanup,
and then be capped, which will not solve the vast problems of this site. It will
merely give the appearance of a cleanup while it is laterally migrating and
recharging with the very shallow ground water & aquifer that Rocky Flats
sits on top of here that feeds drinking water supplies for a few million
people in the Denver metro area.What will this purchase for us? More uncertain future with HIKING trails in the
contaminated buffer zone, and recreation areas where it should never be allowed - EVER.
Lack of sufficient monitoring will continue the general public ignorance of the hazards
of this area as developers continue to get closer and closer to the heart of this facility.
What we need here, and other areas is INDEPENDENT oversight, which does not
happen with State health departments, EPA, or DOE. What are our alternatives?
Arm yourselves with your own radiation monitor. The inexpensive models without all
the bells and whistles won't give breakdowns, but it will tell the individual that there
is something around that is not normal and can harm people - time to be proactive
and protective.From: "Paula Elofson-Gardine, Exec. Dir.
Environmental Information Network" <pelofson1@home.com>
SourceJuly 9, 2000
$4.4 billion final price tag for cleanup of Rocky Flats
BOULDER, Colo. - The final cleanup of Rocky Flats will take six more years and $4.4 billion, a new report says.
The 11,000-page document, released Friday, is the most comprehensive analysis to date.
The "Closure Project Baseline" describes the scope, cost and schedule for cleanup of the former nuclear weapons plant south of Boulder. It concedes many questions remain unanswered.
"What is going on at Rocky Flats is a first-of-a-kind effort," said Troy Timmons, manager of closure project development for Kaiser-Hill, the company managing cleanup at Rocky Flats. "As such, past experience can only take you so far."
Few people outside of Kaiser-Hill have had access to the cleanup plan, but it is certain to be controversial. Activists and watchdog groups are eagerly awaiting their copies.
Paul Golan, deputy site manager for the U.S. Department of Energy, which owns the Flats, says the document's cleanup date of 2006 and cost of $4.4 billion represent a best-case scenario. Cleanup might cost more and take more time, because workers are likely to uncover unexpected sources of contamination as they knock down buildings, for example.
Kaiser-Hill officials have already started requesting adjustments to the plan.
Because the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad, N.M., is not yet accepting certain kinds of waste, Flats workers must store and maintain thousands of waste drums on site longer than planned.
"When circumstances occur that are beyond our control that would affect the cost and schedule, we negotiate with DOE for adjustments to either cost or schedule," Timmons said. He said he did not know how much more time or money Kaiser-Hill has requested to deal with drum storage.
Mothers' Alert Home | More Information | Actions | News