Rocky Flats, Colorado

In operation into the 1990s, Rocky Flats was one of the seven original primary nuclear weapons component facilities, and has been mostly cleaned up, at a cost of several billion dollars. The 6,550-acre site, 16 miles from downtown Denver, had a heavily industrialized 385-acre complex surrounded by a mostly undeveloped buffer zone. For over 30 years, Rocky Flats produced the plutonium pits or triggers, used in a variety of nuclear weapons. The facility was operated for many years by Rockwell International. It was raided by agents from the FBI and the EPA in 1989, due to suspected (and later confirmed) violations of numerous environmental and safety laws, particularly those pertaining to the storage, treatment, and disposal of hazardous materials. Rockwell International was subsequently relieved of its managerial duties, which were turned over to EG&G. In 1992, the W-88 Trident Warhead Program was cancelled, resulting in all nuclear production at Rocky Flats being terminated. In 1994, contractor Kaiser-Hill Company began remediation efforts, as overseen by the Department of Energy (DOE). Also at this time, the site's name was changed to the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. In 2005, the DOE announced that cleanup had been completed, at a cost of $7 billion. In 2007, 4,883 acres of what had once constituted the security buffer zone, were rechristened as the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, under the management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1,309 acres, including where the now demolished plutonium production facilities once stood, remain off-limits, and under the long-term care of the DOE's Office of Legacy Management.