Full Body Burden: Rocky Flats During The Cold War
Huang 1
Zhanchuo Huang
Professor Anderson
English 2, Final Draft
11 December 2013
Secret: Production over Safety “Production takes precedence over safety” was a quite common idea in Rocky Flats during the Cold War (Iversen 409). In Kristen Iversen’s non-fiction memoir, Full Body Burden, she investigated the top secret about Rocky Flats – the nuclear weapons plant. She revealed the truth for the innocent citizens lived near around the radiation area and unfolded the concealed information of how the toxic and radioactive waste affected the area around Rocky Flats, and extensively, seeking justice for innocent people in her twelve years of researching. Nuclear production: these words drive all the main factors in this book, two nuclear building fires, death of local animals, water safety issues, higher rate of cancer in local residence, extensive test …show more content…
of radiation, railroad protest and those innocent people who died from cancer near Rocky Flats. Also, there are a lot of secrets kept by Kristen’s family as well as by the government. This book reveals the dangers of secrecy, but also, it reveals the interest of nuclear production and how the lives of citizens matter so tiny in the U.S. government’s viewpoint. All the main factors were caused from nuclear production. “From 1952 to 1989, Rocky Flats manufactures more than seventy thousand plutonium triggers, at a cost of nearly $4 million apiece” and no one in the city or town knows what goes on inside; it’s secret and classified (Iversen 4). There are two major secrets that the U.S. government wants to keep classified and kept away from the public, the nuclear building fires in 1957 and 1969 at Rocky Flats.
Huang 2
These two fires create the huge impact to residents that lived near the factory and also to the history of nuclear factory. Unfortunately, not much information was released out for the fire of 1957 due to the good covering secrecy skills by the government. But one thing for sure is “The 1957 fire was so hot is melted the top of the ten-story exhaust stack and destroyed the radiation sensors” (Iversen 29). Radiation of nuclear materials has been spread out since this 1957’s fire, and the environment started to become dangerous to the residents near Rocky Flats. Right after the fire, the government did not act as what we wish, instead, they claimed that residents near around were not at risk and upheld the fact that the fire never happened. Due to the time of Cold War, people are scared and try to ignore the sensitive topics of nuclear factory. Therefore, the government would not confront too many questions from the public and so production continues.
But the government cannot do the same silent response and peaceful claim after the fire in 1969. Throughout the big fire in 1969, “massive of plutonium- as well as other contaminants and radioactive material will spread over the Denver area and beyond” (Iversen 32). However, the government did not take this fire as a big deal to their factory and to the safety of residents. Instead, they posted their explanation for the fire under a photo of the Pet of the Week next day stated that “released a small amount of radioactive plutonium contamination” (Iversen 40). According to the book of Full Body Burden, the government admits that even though they have released the small amounts of plutonium from the plant, but consistently emphasized that no risk or no radiation will spread to the residents or to the factory workers. Also the governments often rejected the outside researcher’s safety testing, and try to eliminate all those negative information for them, according to Full Body Burden. However, the government keeps saying that there is no
Huang 3 radiation released to the town, but once more researchers join the public testing of radiation, the government became unreliable on the issue. Activists, residents in Denver and scientist were worried about their health and their family and their generation. Secrecy of Rocky Flats cannot be covered by factory and governments any more since the fire in 1969. Protest, arrests, testing of plutonium inside town of residence, unusual death of animals, people died of undefined cancer and huge budget for operating nuclear factory start to put Rocky Flats into a role of devil and public enemy.
During the fire in 1969, government were lie about the “hot rabbit (rabbit with high degree of radiation)” (Iversen 49), water safety near the factory, why people will die from cancer, why the housing value will sharply drop, why eggs won’t hatch...and more we never know. Begin with the “hot rabbit”, local rabbits showed high concentrations of radiation after the fire of 1969 (Iversen 49). This means people might get sick or being contaminated by the “hot rabbit” around the town. No public announcement has released from governments or Department of Environment yet, people still believe in their happy “contamination land”. Severely, drinking water was not excluded from this fire accident. “High readings of plutonium are also found in water along Walnut Creek, which feeds into Great Western Reservoir, the water supply for the city of Broomfield” (Iversen 66). People will also get radiated and increased rate of cancer by drinking local water. Residents start to have more cancers than any other states in Denver by drinking water and “breathing” (Concentrations in the air and drinking water are also high). With lack of government announcement about public safety, some researchers started to research their own public radiation testing instead. Johnson, an outstanding researcher from Environment department, he did many tests relating to human health under the nuclear radiation. In Johnson’s
Huang 4 study, “Johnson estimates 491 additional cancer cases, where the Energy Department has estimated only one” (Iversen 130).
The consequence is severe and unpredictable, radiation not only affects their own body, but also more terribly, most of their generation will be affected by the radiation as well as by their parents. However, residents not only suffered by undefined cancer, but also their housing value will drop because the rumor of contaminations of the land. Even though people only know a little bit of Rocky Flats, they are still concerned with of the future growth of their property. Therefore, less and less buyers looked for houses in Denver. People like Marcus, who own a small ranch near Rocky Flats, were very frustrated, “After reports of plutonium in the soil and no clear determination of how much plutonium was safe, Marcus could no longer get building permits” (Iversen 105). With consequential loss of support in governments, government tried to cover up the radiation news once again, “DOE (Department of Environment) paid Rockwell a cash bonus for persuading the Post to publish the derisive editorial” (Iversen 131). But with most neighbors in Bridledale and Meadowgate, residents still did not pay much attention about news and radiation effect from 1969 to 1982. So secret still covered and production still continues. Beside the secret in Rocky Flats, Kristen’s family kept a lot secret from each other as well as the government. Her family is constructed with an alcoholic dad, a conservative mom and four beautiful children. Most the secrets are related to her dad, car accident and drinking habit. Her family is used to silence. “Silence is an easy habit. But it doesn’t come naturally. Silence has to be cultivated, enforced by implication and innuendo, looks and glances, hints of dark consequence” (Iversen 300). Children are used to know not to talk about their father’s drinking and accidents. In an alcoholic problem, from time to time, Kristen’s family lacks of
Huang 5 communication, “Day pass.
No one notices. Nothing is said. Fresh bottles appear in their place. My parents, who rarely see or speak to each other, carry on as usual” (Iversen 59). Therefore, family members started to stop inviting friends over to the house, “It’s too embarrassing to explain the bottle under the sofa or behind the chair - the bottles we’re not supposed to know about” (Iversen 59). In car accident, parents and children are not serious about their injury after the accident or her father’s drunk driving, “Eventually we’ll forget this (accident) ever happened, before long the entire incident is, indeed, forgotten” (Iversen 110). Other than car accidents and alcohol, missed appointments and nights in jail are also well covered by her mother. “Is he in jail? Kurt asks. My mother won’t answer directly. ‘He loves you all very much, but he just can’t be here right now’ ” (Iversen 118). Family secrets kept away from almost every single detail in each other, dad to daughter, mom to daughter, husband to wife. The entire environment of her family is like Kristen said in the book, “silence is an easy
habit.” From nuclear secrets and from family hiding secrets, they both stand their own interest and their own reason. From family point of view, Kristen and her mom tried to maintains the family as peaceful as possible to avoid argument in the house. On the other hand, government stands in the interest of national defense, protect its own citizen from Soviet Union in Cold War by maximize their nuclear production and ignore the public safety to achieve their national goals. It’s not surprising that we are still in the same situation, “Production takes precedence over safety” still enforced in 21st century.
Zhanchuo Huang
Professor Anderson
English 2, Final Draft
11 December 2013
Secret: Production over Safety “Production takes precedence over safety” was a quite common idea in Rocky Flats during the Cold War (Iversen 409). In Kristen Iversen’s non-fiction memoir, Full Body Burden, she investigated the top secret about Rocky Flats – the nuclear weapons plant. She revealed the truth for the innocent citizens lived near around the radiation area and unfolded the concealed information of how the toxic and radioactive waste affected the area around Rocky Flats, and extensively, seeking justice for innocent people in her twelve years of researching. Nuclear production: these words drive all the main factors in this book, two nuclear building fires, death of local animals, water safety issues, higher rate of cancer in local residence, extensive test …show more content…
of radiation, railroad protest and those innocent people who died from cancer near Rocky Flats. Also, there are a lot of secrets kept by Kristen’s family as well as by the government. This book reveals the dangers of secrecy, but also, it reveals the interest of nuclear production and how the lives of citizens matter so tiny in the U.S. government’s viewpoint. All the main factors were caused from nuclear production. “From 1952 to 1989, Rocky Flats manufactures more than seventy thousand plutonium triggers, at a cost of nearly $4 million apiece” and no one in the city or town knows what goes on inside; it’s secret and classified (Iversen 4). There are two major secrets that the U.S. government wants to keep classified and kept away from the public, the nuclear building fires in 1957 and 1969 at Rocky Flats.
Huang 2
These two fires create the huge impact to residents that lived near the factory and also to the history of nuclear factory. Unfortunately, not much information was released out for the fire of 1957 due to the good covering secrecy skills by the government. But one thing for sure is “The 1957 fire was so hot is melted the top of the ten-story exhaust stack and destroyed the radiation sensors” (Iversen 29). Radiation of nuclear materials has been spread out since this 1957’s fire, and the environment started to become dangerous to the residents near Rocky Flats. Right after the fire, the government did not act as what we wish, instead, they claimed that residents near around were not at risk and upheld the fact that the fire never happened. Due to the time of Cold War, people are scared and try to ignore the sensitive topics of nuclear factory. Therefore, the government would not confront too many questions from the public and so production continues.
But the government cannot do the same silent response and peaceful claim after the fire in 1969. Throughout the big fire in 1969, “massive of plutonium- as well as other contaminants and radioactive material will spread over the Denver area and beyond” (Iversen 32). However, the government did not take this fire as a big deal to their factory and to the safety of residents. Instead, they posted their explanation for the fire under a photo of the Pet of the Week next day stated that “released a small amount of radioactive plutonium contamination” (Iversen 40). According to the book of Full Body Burden, the government admits that even though they have released the small amounts of plutonium from the plant, but consistently emphasized that no risk or no radiation will spread to the residents or to the factory workers. Also the governments often rejected the outside researcher’s safety testing, and try to eliminate all those negative information for them, according to Full Body Burden. However, the government keeps saying that there is no
Huang 3 radiation released to the town, but once more researchers join the public testing of radiation, the government became unreliable on the issue. Activists, residents in Denver and scientist were worried about their health and their family and their generation. Secrecy of Rocky Flats cannot be covered by factory and governments any more since the fire in 1969. Protest, arrests, testing of plutonium inside town of residence, unusual death of animals, people died of undefined cancer and huge budget for operating nuclear factory start to put Rocky Flats into a role of devil and public enemy.
During the fire in 1969, government were lie about the “hot rabbit (rabbit with high degree of radiation)” (Iversen 49), water safety near the factory, why people will die from cancer, why the housing value will sharply drop, why eggs won’t hatch...and more we never know. Begin with the “hot rabbit”, local rabbits showed high concentrations of radiation after the fire of 1969 (Iversen 49). This means people might get sick or being contaminated by the “hot rabbit” around the town. No public announcement has released from governments or Department of Environment yet, people still believe in their happy “contamination land”. Severely, drinking water was not excluded from this fire accident. “High readings of plutonium are also found in water along Walnut Creek, which feeds into Great Western Reservoir, the water supply for the city of Broomfield” (Iversen 66). People will also get radiated and increased rate of cancer by drinking local water. Residents start to have more cancers than any other states in Denver by drinking water and “breathing” (Concentrations in the air and drinking water are also high). With lack of government announcement about public safety, some researchers started to research their own public radiation testing instead. Johnson, an outstanding researcher from Environment department, he did many tests relating to human health under the nuclear radiation. In Johnson’s
Huang 4 study, “Johnson estimates 491 additional cancer cases, where the Energy Department has estimated only one” (Iversen 130).
The consequence is severe and unpredictable, radiation not only affects their own body, but also more terribly, most of their generation will be affected by the radiation as well as by their parents. However, residents not only suffered by undefined cancer, but also their housing value will drop because the rumor of contaminations of the land. Even though people only know a little bit of Rocky Flats, they are still concerned with of the future growth of their property. Therefore, less and less buyers looked for houses in Denver. People like Marcus, who own a small ranch near Rocky Flats, were very frustrated, “After reports of plutonium in the soil and no clear determination of how much plutonium was safe, Marcus could no longer get building permits” (Iversen 105). With consequential loss of support in governments, government tried to cover up the radiation news once again, “DOE (Department of Environment) paid Rockwell a cash bonus for persuading the Post to publish the derisive editorial” (Iversen 131). But with most neighbors in Bridledale and Meadowgate, residents still did not pay much attention about news and radiation effect from 1969 to 1982. So secret still covered and production still continues. Beside the secret in Rocky Flats, Kristen’s family kept a lot secret from each other as well as the government. Her family is constructed with an alcoholic dad, a conservative mom and four beautiful children. Most the secrets are related to her dad, car accident and drinking habit. Her family is used to silence. “Silence is an easy habit. But it doesn’t come naturally. Silence has to be cultivated, enforced by implication and innuendo, looks and glances, hints of dark consequence” (Iversen 300). Children are used to know not to talk about their father’s drinking and accidents. In an alcoholic problem, from time to time, Kristen’s family lacks of
Huang 5 communication, “Day pass.
No one notices. Nothing is said. Fresh bottles appear in their place. My parents, who rarely see or speak to each other, carry on as usual” (Iversen 59). Therefore, family members started to stop inviting friends over to the house, “It’s too embarrassing to explain the bottle under the sofa or behind the chair - the bottles we’re not supposed to know about” (Iversen 59). In car accident, parents and children are not serious about their injury after the accident or her father’s drunk driving, “Eventually we’ll forget this (accident) ever happened, before long the entire incident is, indeed, forgotten” (Iversen 110). Other than car accidents and alcohol, missed appointments and nights in jail are also well covered by her mother. “Is he in jail? Kurt asks. My mother won’t answer directly. ‘He loves you all very much, but he just can’t be here right now’ ” (Iversen 118). Family secrets kept away from almost every single detail in each other, dad to daughter, mom to daughter, husband to wife. The entire environment of her family is like Kristen said in the book, “silence is an easy
habit.” From nuclear secrets and from family hiding secrets, they both stand their own interest and their own reason. From family point of view, Kristen and her mom tried to maintains the family as peaceful as possible to avoid argument in the house. On the other hand, government stands in the interest of national defense, protect its own citizen from Soviet Union in Cold War by maximize their nuclear production and ignore the public safety to achieve their national goals. It’s not surprising that we are still in the same situation, “Production takes precedence over safety” still enforced in 21st century.