Pondcrete

Radioactive waste

Because the blocks were classified as mixed-level radioactive waste, including plutonium, Rockwell International was unable to store the blocks in the Nevada Test site. The Nevada Test Site did not have a permit to store mixed-level radioactive waste, so the blocks were left in temporary storage at Rocky Flats. Due to problems in production, many of the blocks did not harden correctly and eventually began to seep from the boxes causing large scale environmental contamination of the area. The blocks containing plutonium-239, radioactive waste with a half-life of 24,100 years, had failed in a year. Despite warnings by engineer Jim Stone that the blocks would most likely fail earlier than expected, the blocks were still produced. Later it would be Jim Stone who would file a lawsuit against the company, claiming that they had concealed environmental, safety and health problems from the United States Department of Energy.

Investigation

The contaminations led to an investigation of the Plant by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental Protection Agency which eventually resulted in its shutdown. In 1993, Federal Judge Sherman Finesilver, approved the release of the Colorado Federal District Court Special Grand Jury Report on the investigation. The report found that the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency oversight were not performed adequately to protect the environment, and that Rockwell did not comply with environmental laws at the Rocky Flats Plant. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Rockwell violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by illegally storing, treating and disposing of residues in more than 17,000 blocks of pondcrete and saltcrete in plastic lined cardboard containers outdoors on the 904 Pad at the plant. Each pondcrete block containing mixed-wastes (radionuclides, cadmium, methylene chloride and acetone) weighed between 1,500 and 1,800 pounds. These blocks did not sufficiently harden like concrete, maintaining a consistency of wet clay. Many of the boxes ruptured, possibly due to extreme temperature fluctuations in that region of Colorado, spilling these wastes onto the asphalt pad at Site 904. Rain and wind carried these wastes into drainage areas and into the air and soil.

References

References

1. Ketti, Donald. (1993). "Sharing Power: Public Governance and Private Marketing". Brookings Institution Press.
2. "Nuclear Health and Safety: Problems Continue for Rocky Flats Solar Pond Cleanup Program". United States Government Accountability Office, General Accounting Office.
3. Iverson, Kristen. (2013). "Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats". Broadway Books.
4. Garner, Dwight. (September 27, 2012). "Growing Up in a Town of Weak Beer and Toxic Water: Book Review: Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen". The New York Times.
5. Siegel, Barry. (Aug 8, 1993). "Showdown at Rocky Flats: When Federal Agents Take on a Government Nuclear-Bomb Plant, Lines of Law and Politics Blur, and Moral Responsibility is Tested". Los Angeles Times.
6. "The Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Plant a Guide to Record Series Useful for Health-Related Research". Office of Health Safety and Security.
7. "Rocky Flats Plant Pondcrete/Saltcrete Remediation Program Description: "Pondcrete and Saltcrete White Paper"". DOE.
8. (December 1992). "The Rocky Flats Cover-up, Continued". Harpers Magazine.
9. Brever, Jacqueline. (February 1992). "Inside Rocky Flats: A Whistleblower's Journal". Harpers Magazine.
10. Calhoun, Patricia. (August 8, 1996). "Grand Illusions". Denver Westword News.
11. Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management. "Rocky Flats Site, Colorado: A CERCLA and/or RCRA Site". Energy.gov.
12. Kim Kinehear, Ken Heath. (October 2010). "Rockwell International Corp. v. United States (05-1272), Limtiaco v. Camacho (06-116) and order lis". Wiggin and Dana.
13. Associated Press. (April 2, 1999). "Rocky Flats whistleblower wins suit against Rockwell". Amarillo Globe News.
14. Times Staff and Wire Reports. (April 16, 2007). "James Stone, 82, filed whistle-blower lawsuit against weapons firm". Los Angeles Times.
15. "Carved in Stone". westword.
16. "Colorado Federal District Court Report of the Federal District Special Grand Jury 89-2". Constitution.org.