Rocky Flats, the closed atomic bomb factory on the
outskirts of Denver, is running out of room to store the waste from
its cleanup efforts. By this summer, low-level transuranic waste
will be stored in stainless steel containers placed in 9,600 steel
drums, which will then be stored outside under temporary tents.
Although the tents are built to withstand 100 mph winds, and the
drums weigh nearly 200 pounds when empty, many locals fear the
outside storage.
“Whenever you have outdoor
storage in this part of Colorado, you have to be concerned with the
weather changes we have out here,” says Sam Dixion of the
Westminster City Council. “There is a chance that something could
happen – high winds, lightning – any number of things.”
But the waste has to go somewhere. Rocky Flats’
waste, mostly contaminated clothing and equipment, is earmarked for
disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M.
Although WIPP began accepting waste in early April (HCN, 4/12/99),
a decade after it was finished, Colorado’s nuclear debris has yet
to head south – and no one knows when shipments will begin. As the
Rocky Flats cleanup continues, the waste will keep
accumulating.
“Rocky Flats sits in a metropolitan
area with over 2 million people,” says Pat Etchart of the
Department of Energy. “It was never designed to store waste, but
now it has to.”
* Juniper Davis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Nuclear waste goes camping.
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