By Jacque Brever, BS, Environmental Restoration and Waste Management,
MS, Environmental Policy and Management

August 2004

Introduction

The Department of Energy soon plans to announce completion of its cleanup of the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has already publicly released its preferred plans to allow hiking, biking, school field trips, and other public access to this Superfund site, soon to become the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. [1] It is relying on DOE to have properly cleaned up the contamination. [2]

In the recently published book, The Ambushed Grand Jury, [3] we attempt to inform Congress and the public officials responsible for Rocky Flats about the dangers of opening this former nuclear weapons plant to recreation. Our concerns are due in large part to the data showing widespread contamination of the site and a pattern and practice by DOE of attempting to conceal it. Since publication of the book, we have made an in-depth study of DOE's cleanup plans -- reviewing all of the pertinent cleanup documents [4] -- and have found that DOE's pattern of concealment and deception continues and creates an increased risk of contamination of the public.

Congressman Mark Udall has repeatedly asked the DOE to allow the author of this paper and others from The Ambushed Grand Jury Citizens' Investigation to go onsite to show him, DOE, the regulators, and the media the areas where contamination has been excluded from the cleanup plans and where we have information indicating that a threat of radiation exposure or contamination exists.

DOE refused.[5] We therefore wrote this paper.

Abstract

We have examined four specific contaminated areas at the site which are illustrative of problems with the cleanup elsewhere at Rocky Flats. DOE's own documents reveal that the cleanup of the East Spray Fields is based on false statements by DOE to the regulators: the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. These false statements have caused the majority of the East Spray Fields -- repeatedly spray irrigated during the 1980s with sewage treatment plant effluent contaminated with radioactive and toxic waste -- to be excluded from the cleanup. DOE has also totally excluded from the cleanup two other areas of known contamination: the Building 771 Duck Pond and the landfill near the Wind Site. The 881 Hillside cleanup is deemed complete, yet there are two areas of contamination in the 881 Hillside which violate the regulatory standards. They and eight other areas in 881 Hillside where DOE is leaving radioactive and toxic waste in the surface and sub-surface soils are immediately upgradient of the major planned recreational access in the wildlife refuge.

At many other locations at Rocky Flats, DOE's cleanup plans also leave radioactive and toxic wastes in place -- both within and adjacent to the wildlife refuge -- based on the claim that the contamination will not reach people using the site. Yet, this claim is brought into question by DOE's admissions elsewhere in the cleanup documents. Thus, DOE's cleanup is of great concern because recent studies show that low doses of radioactivity may be much more dangerous than previously thought. [6] In fact, based on these recent studies, the levels of radioactive contamination DOE is permitted to leave in the surface soils may not be protective of human health and should be re-evaluated before public access is allowed.

Appendix A contains five maps. Map 1 shows the locations of DOE's remedial investigation as of October 2002. Map 2 shows the areas of contaminated spray irrigation in the East Spray Fields which DOE excluded from cleanup. Map 3 shows the location of two of the other contaminated areas DOE has excluded from the cleanup. Map 4 shows US Fish and Wildlife Service siting of the majority of the public recreational activities near two areas where DOE's cleanup admittedly violates the regulatory standards and near eight other areas in 881 Hillside where DOE is also leaving radioactive and toxic contamination in place. Map 5 shows all of the publicly acknowledged areas of radioactive and toxic contamination at Rocky Flats which DOE wants to leave in place.

We provide this information to the public, the media, the regulators, DOE, and US Fish and Wildlife Service in an attempt to avoid still further harm to the public from DOE's continuing coverup at Rocky Flats.

I. DOE's cleanup of the East Spray Fields is based on false statements and a false permit application, and excludes the most dangerous contaminants and the majority of the contaminated area from the cleanup.

The East Spray Fields are located on the north and south sides of the East Access Road (Central Avenue on the Plant site), which is a main entrance to Rocky Flats. Throughout the 1980s, DOE regularly sprayed sewage treatment plant effluent on these fields. DOE estimates that up to 20 million gallons per year of effluent was disposed in this manner. When used, the spray system often saturated the soils near the spray fields, leading to overland flow of the sprayed effluent into the detention ponds. [7] It was a common occurrence for runoff from spray irrigation to reach creeks draining into drinking water reservoirs for Broomfield and Westminster and other nearby communities.[8]

A. DOE made false statements to the regulators and the public about the East Spray Fields cleanup.

To determine what type of cleanup would be necessary for the East Spray Fields, DOE first had to determine whether there were any radioactive or toxic contaminants in the sewage treatment plant effluent which had been sprayed on them. DOE did this by using old sampling data from the 1980s, advising the regulators that: "The analyses of treated sanitary effluent discharged to Pond B-3 and actual analysis of the pond water are representative of the water applied to the East Spray Fields." [9]

The quoted statement from DOE is false:

(1) The effluent was analyzed only for the constituents which DOE was allowed by its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge to the sewage treatment plant. [10]

(2) However, DOE has direct knowledge that radioactive and toxic chemicals which were not allowed under the NPDES permit had nonetheless been regularly -- and illegally -- discharged to the sewage treatment plant and that DOE did not analyze or report these contaminants to the regulators. Therefore, as DOE knows, the analyses are not representative of the water which was sprayed on the East Spray Fields, contrary to DOE's representations to the regulators:

(a) The 1989-1992 Rocky Flats Grand Jury investigation revealed that from the mid-1980s until 1989, DOE "...regularly discharged various industrial and hazardous wastes to the sewage treatment plant, including industrial wastewaters, photographic developers and fixers, contaminated cooling tower blowdown [radioactive], radioactive contaminated laundry water, acid rinsewaters and sump wastes. *** [T]hey accounted for 10% of all wastes sent to the STP." [11]

(b) In the resolution of the Rocky Flats Grand Jury criminal investigation of DOE and its contractor, Rockwell International, Rockwell pled guilty to discharging toxic and hazardous substances to the sewage treatment plant. [12]

To compound its false statement, DOE also advises the regulators and the public that: "Water from Pond B-3, which receives treated sanitary wastewater flows, was applied to these spray fields. This activity was allowed in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit of May 1981." [13]

This is totally misleading. As the Justice Department made clear in the criminal disposition of the Grand Jury investigation of DOE and Rockwell in 1992, the NPDES permit was based on DOE's false information in the permit application which failed to inform the EPA that radioactive and toxic wastes were being illegally discharged to the sewage treatment plant: [14]

(1) DOE's contractor Rockwell pled guilty to failing to accurately report the radioactive, toxic, and hazardous wastes in the sewage treatment plant effluent. [15]

(2) The Department of Justice's Sentencing Memorandum, filed as public record with the court in 1992, describes the falsifications in the DOE's NPDES permit. [16]

B. DOE's cleanup of the East Spray Fields excludes the majority of the contaminated land.

Barrels of highly radioactive and chemical wastes were known to have been buried in the East Trenches next to the 903 Pad on the east side of Rocky Flats, and to have rusted out and leaked, adding additional contamination to the soils and groundwater. [17] According to DOE's cleanup documents, the East Trenches were not part of the East Spray Fields. See Appendix A, Map 1. [18] However, it is well known to DOE that the East Trenches are indeed part of the East Spray Fields:

(1) The Justice Department's Sentencing Memorandum describes in detail the FBI investigation of the DOE's practice of spray irrigating over the East Trenches and the increased contamination this caused by spreading the highly contaminated waste from the leaking barrels. [19]

(2) The sprinkler pipes which spray irrigated the contaminated effluent during the 1980s were laid out over both the East Trenches and areas even farther west called the 903 lip area, also contaminated, and were visible to workers as they entered the Plant on the East Access Road. [20]

DOE also excludes from the cleanup other large segments of the East Spray Fields: the area of the East Spray Fields irrigated with water contaminated with radioactive and toxic waste is more than three times larger than the area DOE represents on its map. See Appendix A, Map 2. [21] DOE has excluded from cleanup the vast majority of the land which was regularly sprayed with contaminated water.

The fact that millions of gallons of water contaminated with radioactive and toxic chemical wastes were sprayed onto the East Spray Fields means that the area needs to be thoroughly sampled and characterized before determining a cleanup plan. Instead, because of DOE's false representations to the regulators, the cleanup of the East Spray Fields does not address the most dangerous contaminants in the sewage treatment plant effluent, nor the large majority of the area that was repeatedly contaminated by spray irrigation of that radioactive and toxic effluent.

The regulators have not yet approved and closed out the cleanup of the East Spray Fields and can require DOE to remedy these problems.

II. DOE has totally excluded from the cleanup two other known areas of contamination.

In addition to excluding the majority of the contaminated areas of the East Spray Fields from cleanup, DOE has excluded two other areas of known contamination. [22] See, Appendix A, Map 3:

A. The Building 771 Duck Pond was referenced in The Ambushed Grand Jury.[23] However, despite Congressman Udall's request to EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to read the book and report back to him about it, no one from either agency contacted us. Moreover, the Building 771 Duck Pond is not discussed anywhere in DOE's cleanup documents. It is an unlined pond outside of Building 771, the plutonium recovery operations building. Workers commonly - and illegally - dumped highly radioactive and chemically contaminated liquid waste into the pond, which was not permitted for this use. The pond was adjacent to a creek which runs into North Walnut Creek.

B. The landfill at the Wind Site on the northwest side of the Plant is also excluded from DOE's cleanup plans. This is an area where workers at Rocky Flats in the 1980s disposed highly radioactively contaminated metal parts. Approximately six inches of dirt was placed on top of the contaminated area.

DOE's cleanup plans exclude both the Duck Pond and the landfill at the Wind Site, do not address their contamination, and there is no documented cleanup of either highly contaminated area. The Duck Pond and the landfill at the Wind Site are in areas acknowledged by DOE as prone to earth movement. [24] There is thus the potential for movement of the contamination into the wildlife refuge and offsite and for continuing groundwater contamination.

III. Contamination at two sites in the 881 Hillside admittedly has not been cleaned up in compliance with regulatory standards and at eight other areas DOE has left radioactive and toxic waste in place; the contamination has the potential to move into the main public access area planned in the wildlife refuge.

The 881 Hillside was so named because it is just south, downgradient, and adjacent to Building 881. Two of the Building 881 operations included sampling finished plutonium metal for impurities and a research and development facility. A criticality experiment operation was conducted in nearby Building 886. The 881 Hillside is contaminated with radionuclides and toxic chemicals from those operations. The 881 Hillside cleanup has been approved by the regulators and no further cleanup is planned. [25] This poses several concerns:

A. The US Fish and Wildlife Service's most extensive plans for public access in the wildlife refuge are on the 881 Hillside immediately adjacent to and downgradient from eleven areas of toxic and radioactive contamination which DOE is leaving in place. See Appendix A, Map 4. [26] The public access plans include hiking, biking, and school field trips; off-trail use; re-vegetation; construction of an observatory, an overlook, an environmental education facility, and a photography station. [27]

B. DOE claims that the eleven areas of radioactive and toxic contamination in the 881 Hillside have either been cleaned up or need no cleanup. [28] On the contrary:

(1) DOE cleaned up only three of those eleven areas, and two of them, by DOE's own admission -- even after cleanup -- violate the requirements of the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement and EPA risk standards. [29]

(2) DOE also found low levels of radionuclides and toxic contamination in eight of the other areas it looked at, yet did no cleanup and left the contamination in place. DOE claims no cleanup is needed, stating that because most of the contamination is sub-surface, there supposedly are no pathways by which the contamination could reach the public. [30] Yet, elsewhere, DOE admits that the soils in the 881 Hillside are particularly prone to landslides, slumping and erosion, all of which increase the potential for movement of the contaminants, creating pathways by which the public could be exposed. [31] The construction and re-vegetation activities and the recreation planned in this area will also disturb the soil, potentially creating pathways for exposure of the workers and the public.

DOE has also acknowledged that: "[T]he radionuclides in the surface soils could be mobilized by wind action (sustained winds over 50 miles per hour are not unusual at RFETS). This mobilization could result in transport of radionuclides to distant downwind locations. *** Surface water migration [of radionuclides] is most likely to occur during periods of intense rainfall, such as is associated with the summer thunderstorms common to the RFETS vicinity." [32]

The movement of the contamination into the recreation areas, or offsite, is of concern, particularly in light of a soon to be published study in the British journal New Scientist, which states: "Plutonium may be many times more dangerous than previously thought. The cancer risk from exposure inside the body could be 10 times higher than is allowed for in calculating international safety limits." [33] The experts involved in the study are unanimous in saying that low-level radiation emitted by plutonium may cause more damage to human cells than previously believed.

Conclusion

Because of time constraints, this paper did not examine the many other problems with DOE's cleanup of Rocky Flats, such as leaving low levels of radioactive contamination throughout the surface soils in the public recreation areas, despite studies which show that low levels of radiation may be more harmful than previously thought; or leaving high levels of radioactive contamination in the ground adjacent to the recreation areas under the theory that the contamination will stay in place in spite of heavy wind and precipitation events causing soil erosion, and despite the groundwater contamination which results. There are myriad other concerns.

In The Ambushed Grand Jury, DOE's falsifications of laboratory data and manipulation of monitoring processes were documented. According to scientists familiar with DOE laboratory work, this has been a long standing and widespread problem. [34]

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is aware of some of the laboratory failures, such as quality assurance failures, and has criticized DOE for them, but apparently has still accepted DOE's data and conclusions. [35] Data from DOE should not be accepted until these laboratory failures and deficiencies are corrected.

No one can claim to understand the nature and extent of the contamination at Rocky Flats unless they are able to review the DOE waste disposal and contamination documents which were seized by the FBI and which remain sealed in the Rocky Flats Grand Jury vault. DOE itself has acknowledged that its cleanup plans have been impacted by DOE's inability to review its own files: "Appendix G ... identifies files that the HRR [Historical Review Report] team could not review because the Federal Bureau of Investigation had confiscated these files. Information on indoor or outdoor releases of interest to the HRR may be contained in these files." [36]

We therefore urge public and regulatory access to the documents sealed in the Grand Jury vault, in the name of rigorous and unbiased science in the service of the public health. Once these documents are available for review, independent verification of DOE's cleanup of Rocky Flats should commence.

 

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References

[1] Recent studies document the continuing problem of offsite human exposure to contaminants left in place at Superfund sites. J.R. Pegg, July 28th, 2004 , EPA Wrestles with Superfund Challenges, Environment News Service

[2] Dean Rundle, Manager, Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service, at March, 2004 public hearings concerning public access at the wildlife refuge

[3] Wes McKinley and Caron Balkany, The Ambushed Grand Jury: How The Justice Department Covered Up Government Nuclear Crimes and How We Caught Them Red Handed (The Apex Press, 2004)

[4] According to Karen Lutz, DOE spokesperson, in private communications with the author, the pertinent cleanup documents are: Historical Release Report, DOE, 1992; EG&G for DOE, October 1, 1992 through March 31, 1995, Updates for Historical Release Report; Rocky Mountain Remediation Services, April 1, 1995 through August 1, 1998, Updates for Historical Release Report; Kaiser-Hill LLC, August 1, 1998 through August 1, 2003, Updates for Historical Release Report. The author reviewed the Historical Release Report and all updates, as well as numerous documents contained in the Environmental Data Dynamic Information Exchange, the database located on the website of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. More than 16,000 pages of documents were reviewed.

[5] Private correspondence between Congressman Udall and The Ambushed Grand Jury Citizens' Investigation, April 5, 2004, July 2, 2004 and phone conversations during the same period

[6] Edwards, Rob, July 18, 2004, Plutonium Cancer Risk may be Higher Than Thought, New Scientist

[7] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, 1997 update, pages 48 - 50

[8] Plaintiff's Sentencing Memorandum, United States of America v. Rockwell International Corporation, Case Number 92-CR-107, United States District Court, District of Colorado, pages 86 and 94

[9] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, 2003 update, pages 24-27

[10] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, 1992, DOE, pages NE-33 to NE-36

[11] Op. Cit., Sentencing Memorandum, pages 69-70

[12] Plea Agreement, United States of America v. Rockwell International Corporation, Case Number 92-CR-107, United States District Court, District of Colorado

[13] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, 1997 update, page 48

[14] Op. Cit., Sentencing Memorandum, pages 66-67

[15] Op. Cit., Plea Agreement

[16] Op. Cit., Sentencing Memorandum, pages 67-69. It appears that DOE did not even review the Justice Department's Sentencing Memorandum when developing the cleanup plans, despite the wealth of detail in the 128 page document and despite the DOE's inability to review many of its own documents because the DOE documents have remained sealed in the Grand Jury vault since the discharge of the Rocky Flats Grand Jury.

[17] DOE, July 2002, First Five-Year Review for RFETS, pages 55-60

[18] Appendix A, Map 1, DynCorp for DOE, Plate 1, Individual Hazardous Substance Sites by Consolidated Operable Unit, Historical Release Report Update, August 1, 2002 through August 1, 2003

[19] Op. Cit., Sentencing Memorandum, pages 81-82

[20] Personal knowledge of the author, and recorded observations from other Rocky Flats workers, July 2004

[21] Appendix A, Map 2, Jacque Brever, 2004, Area of Contaminated Spray Irrigation Acknowledged by DOE Compared to Area of Spray Irrigation as Described by the FBI and Former Workers But Excluded From Cleanup By DOE

[22] Both of these areas are known to the author and to other former plutonium workers at Rocky Flats.

[23] Op. Cit., The Ambushed Grand Jury, page 170

[24] Dyncorp for DOE, November 2002, RFCA Attachment 5 Figure One. See, also, Appendix A, Map 3, Jacque Brever, 2004, Contaminated Areas Excluded From DOE Cleanup

[25] Op. Cit., First Five-Year Review for RFETS, pages 55-60

[26] Appendix A, Map 4, Jacque Brever, 2004, Areas of Residual Contamination in 881 Hillside Immediately Upgradient of Planned Intensive Public Use

[27] ERO Resources Corp for US Fish and Wildlife Service, February 2004, Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge

[28] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, DOE, 1992, and all updates

[29] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, 1997 update, page 114

[30] Ibid., Historical Release Report, 1997 update, page 114

[31] EPA, March 12, 1997, EPA Superfund Record of Decision: Rocky Flats Plant (USDOE) EPA ID: CO 7890010526, OU 1, EPA/ROD/R08-97/195, Summary of Site Risks Section

[32] EG&G Rocky Flats for DOE, 1994, Final Proposed Action Memorandum Hot Spot Removal, page 21.

[33] Op. Cit., Edwards, New Scientist

[34] Op. Cit., The Ambushed Grand Jury, pages 160-162

[35] Ethington and Niswonger, March 16, 1999, Quantitative Evaluation of Groundwater Actinide Data, and Ethington and Niswonger, May 26, 1999, Levels of Reliability and Least Significant Figures for Surface Water RFETS Samples from October 1996 to February 1999

[36] Op. Cit., Historical Release Report, DOE, 1992, page 2-9, emphasis supplied