Category Archives: Rocky Flats Plant

US Nuclear Weapons: A Secret History

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us-nuclear-weapons-secret-historyThis book by Chuck Hansen is an encyclopedia of nuclear weapons, and I recommend it as such to anyone who would be interested in reading about that. The book is listed at $144 on Amazon, so I recommend trying the interlibrary loan system before you commit to a purchase. It had less information about the subjects in which I have as an interest, and the short review to follow is a reflection of that. It has great pictures of various nuclear blasts as well as pictures of various weapon bodies and various delivery systems. Hansen’s feelings about nuclear weapons are not subdued. He describes in the introduction that “…a vast empire has arisen largely unnoticed in the United States.” “The secret empire has cost taxpayers dearly: $89 billion in development costs since 1940, and $700 billion for delivery systems for its products. The sheer volume and number of these products is mind-boggling: between 1945 and 1986, the nuclear weapons complex in the U.S. manufactured approximately 60,000 warheads of 71 types for 116 different weapons systems.” “The U.S. government has always gone to extreme lengths to keep this orgy of nuclear self-indulgence hidden from public view.” There is a reference that “…tens of millions of documents chronicling this vast ‘black project’ remain locked away in vaults…” (It makes one wonder how the author was able to find anything to write about.)

Ironically, a discussion follows of how it had been thought the U.S. would maintain a nuclear monopoly much longer than what occurred. The Soviets were able to steal everything they needed by espionage to develop atomic bombs while bypassing the need to invent and test the design information developed by the U.S. Continue reading →

America’s Plans for War Against the Soviet Union, 1945-1950, Vol. 13, Evaluating the Air Offensive

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This book 1, edited by Stephen R. Ross and David Alan Rosenberg, is an unusual book to be reviewed this web site. The book is listed as unavailable and out of print on Amazon. I obtained a copy on interlibrary loan from the “Center for Naval Analysis” in Arlington, VA. For those who might wonder why I would be interested in such an obscure book, I worked at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, and have been researching why the nation believed we needed such a facility to be built in the early 1950s. I had motivation to obtain the book, but I’ll warn others that the book is very large. It has in excess of 400 8 ½ X 11 pages, even though it only contains the declassified information from the original top secret report. A quick summary is that the report describes an evaluation of “War Plan OFFTACKLE,” which called for a strike with atomic bombs on 220 Soviet industrial site followed by massive conventional bombing.

I’ve read much about the negative effects on military planning created by the competition between the military services in the late 1940s. There was also a lack of cooperation between the civilian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the military planners. The AEC felt they were prevented by the Atomic Energy Act from revealing physical characteristics of the atomic bombs (which was crucial to determining how the weapons could be carried and delivered) or even the number of weapons in the stockpile. This report discusses the stark fact that the military didn’t have the capability to carry out the full war plan and also clearly emphasizes the even more depressing reality of the nearly complete lack of effective intelligence about the Soviet Union, its military capabilities, and its intentions. The only thing that seemed a certainty to the planners was that a World War with the Soviet Union was inevitable.   Continue reading →

Jefferson Parkway Legal Ruling

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I’m a bit late with this posting, since the ruling was made in mid-April. The article describing the ruling was written by John Aguilar in the Denver Post. He begins the article, “The controversial Jefferson Parkway, long entangled in a series of courtroom challenges, won a major legal battle Friday when the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a complex land swap that enables construction of the Broomfield-to-Golden highway to move ahead. The land transfer involved a 617-acre parcel on the southwestern corner of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge for a 300 –foot wide transportation right of way parallel to Indian Avenue. “A federal judge ruled in favor of the swap in 2012.The 10th circuit judges unanimously affirmed the ruling…”

Plaintiffs in the case had contended that backers of the Parkway “…think the future of the Front Range lies in building more roads, more strip malls, and more housing tracts.” They had claimed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lacked the authority to make the transfer and violated environmental laws including consideration for the Pebble’s meadow jumping mouse, which has become a consistent component of opposition to any Front Range development project. There is, of course, the charge that construction would “…disturb plutonium buried in the soil of the defunct Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant.”

The future of the Parkway is far from certain because opponents are unlikely give up their legal challenges. They have legitimate concerns that the Parkway will increase the amount of development in their area. It is common for people who are happy with their current situation to not want more people to come in to enjoy their area.

I wonder whether there could have been any development in the State of Colorado if the current rules had been in effect in the 1940s and 1950s. Could I-70 been approved to traverse Colorado with current rules? How could it possibly have been approved with the disruption to wildlife migration routes and other significant environmental impacts? Could the series of irrigation canals in the Denver metropolitan area that provide a wonderful system of hiking and biking trails have ever been built? Those are probably are unanswerable questions.

 

FREE Kindle eBook: “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats”

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book_cvr3D_sm_pngMany of you have either read the original online version (which is no longer available) or downloaded the pre-publication PDF version of An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats: Urban Myths Debunked. And special thanks to a sizable number of you who have purchased the Paperback version of the book from Amazon.

My original purpose in writing An Insider’s View… was to provide an accurate biographical account of the Rocky Flats story to as broad an audience as possible.

Consistent with that objective, I’m now offering the Kindle version of the An Insider’s View… FREE for 3 days beginning March 6, 2015. I encourage you to take advantage of this FREE ebook offer even if you purchased the paperback or downloaded the pre-publication PDF book from the RockyFlatsFacts.com website. That’s because – unlike the paperback and PDF which are text-only documents – the Kindle ebook contains the added bonus of over 2 dozen full-color (unclassified) photos that I think you’ll find memorable including one of burning plutonium (in a glovebox!) and two photos of plutonium ingots.

Don’t be put off if you don’t already own a Kindle reader: you don’t need one. You can download an entirely FREE Kindle ebook reader app to your PC, Mac, or mobile device by clicking here. (Clicking link will take you to Kindle reader app installer webpage.) Trust me, it is easy and it works just fine.

I do have a couple of requests to go along with this free Kindle ebook offer. First, I know that I’ve only a small fraction of email addresses for people interested in Rocky Flats news and information. Please forward this message to anyone you think might want to get the FREE An Insider’s View Kindle ebook with its cool photos. And if you enjoy the Kindle ebook version of An Insider’s View, please consider writing a short review of the ebook at Amazon.com.

Yes, A Second FREE Kindle eBook…

FIM_3D_Cover_341pxMy second request is that you take a look at my two more recent fiction books. I published these as collaborative efforts with my grandchildren who served as “Creative Staff and Illustrators.” The first book in the series is Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils: The Farmer Island War, and the more recent sequel is Farmer Island Magic.

To entice you further, I’m offering the Kindle ebook version of Farmer Island Magic FREE for the 3-day period beginning March 6, 2015. Of course, I’m hoping that you will eventually consider purchasing one or both of these books in paperback.

And once again, if you read one of my Farmer Island books and enjoy it, please consider writing a short review on Amazon.com and/or refer the book(s) to a friend, relative, or colleague.

Rocky Flats Controlled Burn Delayed

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There was a commentary posted a couple of weeks ago about the proposal to perform a controlled burn in an area of the wildlife refuge in the vicinity of the closed Rocky Flats Plant. Activists who have developed a career of protesting anything about the Plant that produced nuclear weapons parts, including plutonium parts, have done their usual fine job of exaggeration risks to the point the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the burn will be postponed. The article by Bruce Finely of the Denver Post announcing the decision also manages to repeat the inflammatory statement that Rocky Flats “…became an environmental disaster.”

The agency managing the refuge said they “…still favor the long-planned 701 acre burn—based on science—as the best way to convert Rocky Flats into a healthy wildlife refuge and protect a massive new housing development in the area.” However, they bowed to ominous warnings and said, “…we have heard concerns from the public and we want to take time to further engage in dialogue on these issues.” The burn has been issued the necessary permits, including one from the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. All agency reports had pointed out that the burn would not present a safety problem. The levels of plutonium in the area the burn was proposed are virtually the same as levels throughout the Front Range that have existed since the era of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.

An official of the Fish and Wildlife explains, “…we have heard concerns from the public and we want to engage in further dialogue on these issues…As good neighbors, we want to assure the public that safety is our absolute priority.”

I mentioned in my previous commentary that I didn’t care much about the decision about the burn. I was wrong. I find myself discouraged. Once again public opinion and the actions of government agencies have been manipulated by inflammatory and inaccurate comments that succeeded in creating unwarranted fear. Science and reason are once again losing to fear mongering.

I have a prediction. There will be sampling and analysis of smoke from the burn if it is eventually approved and performed. It will be ominously reported that plutonium was found in the smoke. It won’t be mentioned that there would be equivalent amounts of plutonium found in smoke from a grass fire near Grand Junction, Limon, or anywhere in the world.

Controlled Burn Proposal for Rocky Flats

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Rocky Flats has made it back into the news because of a proposed controlled burn near where the plant produced plutonium and other parts for nuclear weapons. An article by Bruce Finley states that west Metro leaders oppose the burn “…where plutonium contamination created an environmental disaster.” My book, “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats:  Urban Myths Debunked,” puts the plutonium releases from Rocky Flats into context compared to the amount of plutonium added to the environment by atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. A 1974 State of Colorado report estimated total world releases of plutonium from testing of nuclear weapons to be between 9,000 and 15,000 pounds of plutonium that contaminated the entire world everything that lives on it. The total released from all routine operations and accidents from Rocky Flats was estimated to be between 2 and 25 ounces. I can’t be certain of Mr. Finley’s definition of what would constitute an “environmental disaster,” but I’d choose atmospheric testing to have been worse than Rocky Flats.

One critic who has a lengthy career of providing inflammatory comments about of Rocky Flats was quoted in Finley’s article as saying, “If plutonium is released, it would be in the form of tiny particles suspended in the air. These could be inhaled. Even a single particle could destroy someone’s health.” I’ll respond with quotes from my book. “Is it true that a tiny particle of plutonium will kill people? Sadly, it’s too late to avoid that outcome it that is true.” “All humans have billions or trillions of atoms of plutonium in their bodies.” Is it surprising that people are living longer despite the plutonium we’ve all inhaled? Continue reading →