[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E578-E579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            A DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOEL HEFLEY

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 13, 2000

  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I share with 
you an update on the first-ever scheduled closure of a Department of 
Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons facility. In less than seven years, 
residents along the Front Range of Colorado will no longer live in the 
shadow of Rocky Flats, a 6,500 acre former weapons component 
manufacturing facility. What once was home to more than 100 tons of 
plutonium and plutonium byproducts will become history. More than 700 
structures representing 3.5 million square feet will be demolished. The 
two on-site landfills that contributed to soil and groundwater 
contamination will no longer exist.
  Since the early years of the Nuclear Age to the end of the Cold War, 
Rocky Flats, a mere 16 miles northwest of Denver, was a manufacturing 
site for plutonium triggers and other nuclear weapons parts. In 1989, 
the FBI and the EPA closed the site due to alleged violations of 
environmental law.
  A joint company headquartered in my district has developed a fast-
track closure plan, which DOE fully supports, that shaves decades off 
the original clean-up schedule. Originally expected to take 65 years 
and cost more than $35 billion, the accelerated closure plan will be 
completed by 2007 for under $8 billion.
  To date great progress has been made at Rocky Flats such as cleaning 
up the majority of the top 10 environmental risk areas, including the 
removal of 30 tons of depleted uranium. Thousands of liters of 
plutonium and uranium solutions have been drained from dozens of tanks 
and stabilized. Most recently, the weapons research and development 
facility was decontaminated and demolished--six months ahead of 
schedule.
  Within this decade, all nuclear materials and radioactive waste will 
be shipped to off-site storage facilities. Environmental remediation 
will be completed so that land is available for

[[Page E579]]

open space and industrial use and downstream water supplies are 
protected. Moreover, billions of taxpayer dollars that have been used 
in the operations, security and cleanup of Rocky Flats can be 
reallocated to similar sites throughout the country.
  Imagine, after more than 50 years as a top-secret nuclear weapons 
facility that contributed to winning the Cold War, the Rocky Flats 
acreage will once again be available to the people of Colorado. Please 
join me in congratulating the DOE, the State of Colorado, and the 
companies involved for this extraordinary effort.

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