The latest soil samples from around the Rocky Flats Natural Wildlife Refuge show residual radiological contamination at the one-time nuclear weapons site in Colorado poses no health threat for employees, hikers, or nearby communities, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a report Sept. 6.
The samples taken in June around the former location of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant address public concerns regarding residual contaminants at the refuge, the agency said in a news release. Contaminant levels are no worse, and generally lower, than most prior samples, according to the report by contractor Engineering Analytics.
The sampling is financed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and a group of local governments around the site, referred to as the Partner Group.
The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority said on Aug. 16 a soil sample taken in May near Rocky Flats, close to a 10-mile toll road it is developing near metropolitan Denver, turned up a plutonium level about five times higher than what is considered benign. The authority reported the finding to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which promised more sampling and analysis.
Afterward, the Broomfield, Colo., City Council said not to expect the hiring of a construction contractors for the toll road until the radiation questions are resolved. The new section of road would connect Golden, Colo., and Broomfield.
There was no immediate reaction to the recent federal study from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
From 1952 to 1989, Rocky Flats manufactured the fissile plutonium pits for nuclear weapons. The Energy Department certified in 2005 that it had completed the $7 billion remediation at the site, which is now monitored by DOE’s Office of Legacy Management. The periphery of Rocky Flats was transferred to the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service in July 2007 and became the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge received 745 additional acres from DOE in 2014 and is now a 5,200-acre site.
Fish & Wildlife retained Fort Collins-based Engineering Analytics in September 2018 to collect and analyze surface soil samples for hiking trail upgrades in the wildlife refuge. The contract was extended in January of this year.
