Officials recently discovered a 55-gallon drum in the Walnut Creek drainage at Rocky Flats. The area was once home to a manufacturer that made nuclear weapons. If the drum is related to the facility, it could have the potential to contain extremely dangerous radioactive waste.
Rocky Mountain Community Radio learned of the drum from Jon Lipsky – the former FBI agent who led the search and eventual closure of Rocky Flats in the late 80s.
In an internal email, officials at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the U.S. Department of Energy spoke about the drum on November 21. The documents were also posted to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)’s website.
Environmental activists – especially those connected to Rocky Flats – see discoveries like these as clear signs that the superfund site still poses a massive risk to public safety.
Details of the drum were also revealed during an interview with filmmaker Jeff Gipe, who's focused on a new documentary called Half Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory.
Gipe and Lipsky spoke with Rocky Mountain Community Radio's Jackie Sedley who started the conversation about the documentary but later revealed the discovery of the drum.
An email between CDPHE and DOE shares the steps the state will take to uncover what the drum holds, if anything. The careful removal of the drum is to avoid any potential environmental impacts.
KUNC has contacted CDPHE to see what the outcome of the investigation was.
