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One of four example estimates of the plutonium (Pu-239) plume from the 1957 fire at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. The Rocky Flats Plant, a former United States nuclear weapons production facility located about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Denver, caused radioactive (primarily plutonium, americium, and uranium) contamination within and outside its boundaries. [1]
A 4-square-mile (10 km 2) site about 15 miles (25 km) northwest of Denver on a windy plateau called Rocky Flats was chosen for the facility. [18] Contemporary news reports stated that the site would not be used to produce nuclear bombs, but might be used to produce uranium and plutonium components for use in nuclear weapons. [18] [19]
After the fire, plutonium was detected near a school 12 miles (19 km) away and around Denver 17 miles (27 km) away. An independent group of scientists conducting off-site testing 13 years later found plutonium contamination in areas in nearby Rocky Flats to be 400 to 1,500 times higher than normal, higher than any ever recorded near any urban ...
Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy contamination in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons. A ...
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The contamination of the Denver area by plutonium from these fires and other sources was not reported until the 1970s, and as of 2011 the U.S. Government continues to withhold data on post-Superfund cleanup contamination levels. Elevated levels of plutonium have been found in the remains of cancer victims living near the Rocky Flats site, and ...
An explosion caused a multifamily house in Denver to partially collapse, sending one person to the hospital with minor injuries, authorities said. Natural gas was the suspected cause of the blast ...
BOMARC Site RW-01 is a 75-acre (30 ha) [1] fenced-off site contaminated primarily with "weapons-grade plutonium (WGP), highly-enriched and depleted uranium." On 7 June 1960 an explosion in a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused the accident and subsequent contamination.