Rocky Flats:Destruction of Records
By: Ivy Kha
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Department of Energy's Role
The DOE's role was to regulate Rocky Flats. The DOE also provided bonuses to Rockwell if they produced more plutonium triggers, which costs $4 million per trigger. The DOE was also the one to conclude that workers who were exposed to the radioactive chemicals at Rocky Flats died from cancer due to the exposure and because of this, the EPA admitted this fact to the press in January of 1980. As the number of people who become aware of the Rocky Flats incident began to increase, the more "it becomes a problem for the county commissioners, the county board of health, the DOE, and Rockwell." Because of this growing problem, contractors began to destroy records and it was not until years later that a general DOE directive was sent out to all facilities instructing them to stop. Finally, in 1992, the DOE shut down Rocky Flats plant.
On May 18, 1991, a cowboy named Wes McKinley voted to indict Rockwell, five of it's employees, and three others that were working for the DOE but the Justice Department prosecutor, Mike Norton, refused to sign the indictments. Due to this, not a single Rockwell or DOE official was indicted even though more than 400 environmental violations occurred over the decades. In the end, Rockwell employees only had to pay an $18.5 million fine but more than this was collected through bonuses from the DOE over the years. The DOE projected that the clean up of Rocky Flats would cost $40 billion and take 70 years; however, in actuality, the cost was $7 billion and took 10 years.
FBI Raid on Rocky Flats
A chemical operator named Jacqueline Brever and her team were harassed for years after being identified as "whistle blowers." Brever and her team members began to get harassed by several workers at the plant. She found that holes were poked into her gloves when working with the materials. Her mask was also contaminated by the waste, however, she was forced to keep it on. After these incidents, she told the union steward about the working conditions. She took notes daily of the working conditions at Rocky Flats and ended up recording activities that were not supposed to be done, such as turning off the valves when inspectors came by. She also recorded the careless health and safety practices. Brever tested herself for radioactive chemicals and the results were positive for plutonium in her body. Although this was the case, it was written off as a statistical error in the machine.
On June 6, 1989, almost one hundred heavily armed federal agents, seventy coming from the FBI raided the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapon Plant. This operation was called Operation Desert Glow, led by FBI agent Jon Lipsky, which was authorized by the highest levels of government. The FBI agents informed the senior managers at the plant to gather in one room to talk about a terrorist attack on the plant. Little did they know, the FBI had been putting them under surveillance for the past six months prior to the raid. During the raid, the FBI searched the facilities for eighteen days, guarded it for twenty four hours a day, and collected 104 boxes of evidence.
Rockwell was charged with engagement in illegal incineration.
Rockwell was charged with engagement in illegal incineration.
Although Rocky Flats is now made into looking more presentable, the radioactive chemicals are still seeped into the soil and radiation exposure is still a big risk.
Why Were Records Destroyed?
In the Technical Summary Report for the Historical Public Exposures Studies of Rocky Flats, it stated that "Researchers involved in both Phases I and II conducted extensive searches of the historical records to find information to support the Historical Public Exposures Studies on Rocky Flats. Although most of the records were located onsite or in the Denver area, some records were found in storage areas at other DOE sites and at Federal repositories....Throughout the project, we made every attempt to make all records used in the project available to the public to ensure independent verification of the data used. All information requested for our analysis was made available; no information was withheld because of classification or privacy issues. Over the course of the project, we used thousands of records to help reconstruct releases to the environment, to make estimates of risk, and to help verify our calculations. Although the document search was the most extensive ever conducted on Rocky Flats, as with all historical dose reconstruction efforts, many records could not be found. These records had either been destroyed as part of the routine destruction of records over the years, or they were simply not located in spite of extensive search." From this, it can be concluded that records were destroyed over the years to hide the fact that the illicit production of radioactive nuclear triggers were being made and workers were being exposed to unsafe working conditions. Another reason why the records were destroyed was in order to hide personal information from the public; however, personal information could be easily removed, allowing all other information to be given to the public. After finding out about this, Mark Spalding sent a memo telling workers at the sites to stop the destruction of records.
The picture above shows a snippet from a letter written to the Office of Legacy Management with regards to the DOE and the destruction of records. The rest of the letter can be found at: http://www.rockyflatssc.org/RFSCdocs_ltr_to%20_Owen5-08.pdf
Works Cited:
1. IVERSEN, KRISTEN. "The Dirty Secrets Of Rocky Flats." Nation 294.24 (2012): 23-26. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
2. 14-Cdphe-Rfp-1999-Final, Rac Report No. FINAL REPORT (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://www.riskassessmentcorporation.com/docs/Rocky_Flats_Technical_Summary.pdf>.
3. Roberts II, John B. "Nuclear Secrets And The Culture Wars." American Spectator 32.5 (1999): 34. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
4. Anderson, Loraine, and Micheal Owen. "Rocky Flats Stewardship Council." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://www.rockyflatssc.org/RFSCdocs_ltr_to%20_Owen5-08.pdf>.
1. IVERSEN, KRISTEN. "The Dirty Secrets Of Rocky Flats." Nation 294.24 (2012): 23-26. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
2. 14-Cdphe-Rfp-1999-Final, Rac Report No. FINAL REPORT (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://www.riskassessmentcorporation.com/docs/Rocky_Flats_Technical_Summary.pdf>.
3. Roberts II, John B. "Nuclear Secrets And The Culture Wars." American Spectator 32.5 (1999): 34. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
4. Anderson, Loraine, and Micheal Owen. "Rocky Flats Stewardship Council." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://www.rockyflatssc.org/RFSCdocs_ltr_to%20_Owen5-08.pdf>.