In response to public opposition (including a MoveOn petition), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service canceled a “prescribed burn” planned for Spring 2015 at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. But it expects to do burns at the Refuge in the future. This must not happen, because any burn at the site can endanger public health by releasing plutonium particles.
Why is this important?
: The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, managed by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, occupies most of the site of the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. The Refuge surrounds the current Superfund area where production once occurred. During almost 40 years of production the plant released highly toxic plutonium into the environment. Inadequate cleanup of the contaminated site left tiny plutonium particles in the soil. Any burn at the site would release particles into the air where they could be inhaled, the worst way to be exposed to plutonium.
