Rocky Flats Cleanup

Boulder, Colorado-- The congressman whose district includes the former nuclear weapons plant at Rocky Flats has asked state officials to fine the U.S. Department of Energy if it misses deadlines for cleaning up the site.

The $7 billion cleanup of plutonium at Rocky Flats is scheduled to be complete by 2006, but the governor of South Carolina, where the plutonium is supposed to be sent, is threatening to block the shipments.

U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has asked Colorado Governor Bill Owens, state Attorney General Ken Salazar and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce deadlines for various stages in the cleanup.

The deadlines are included in the state's agreement with the Energy Department, which is in charge of the cleanup. The agreement allows for fines if deadlines are missed, but the dollar amount was not immediately available.

Plutonium shipments to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are scheduled to begin by May 15. South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges has said the plutonium is a safety risk and vowed to block the shipments unless the federal government promises it will not be stored there permanently.

Rocky Flats, 13 miles northwest of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons until the plant closed in 1989. About six tons of plutonium remain at the facility in Colorado.