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Plutonium Test Results Slow Plans For Denver-Area Toll Road

Broomfield city officials are suspending their search for investors to help build a toll road after a soil test found elevated levels of plutonium in the highway's planned path.

The road would cross a buffer zone on the east side of a former nuclear weapons plant northwest of Denver. KUSA-TV reported Sunday the Broomfield City Council announced it was halting efforts to find a private partner for the project.

The Rocky Flats plant made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads from 1952 to 1989. Later, the manufacturing site underwent a $7 billion cleanup.

State officials announced in August that a soil test found plutonium levels five times higher than the cleanup standard, but a second test found much lower levels. Officials were seeking more information on the results.

Copyright 2019 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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