HISTORY

In 1991, an Associated Press investigation revealed a journal kept by Rocky Flats worker Jacqueline Brever documenting alleged radioactive contamination, workplace safety failures, and retaliation. Her account and the experiences of fellow worker Karen Pitts offer a rare perspective on life inside the nuclear weapons plant during its final years of production.

Rocky Flats was recognized for its nationally significant role in Cold War nuclear weapons production. Its National Register of Historic Places documentation also records the plant's industrial operations, environmental controversies, safety concerns, and the events leading to its closure. The 34-page federal record offers a revealing look at the history behind the former weapons facility.

In 1979, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a Rocky Flats Advisory Notice informing certain prospective homebuyers near the nuclear weapons plant about off-site plutonium contamination and a radiological emergency-response plan. The federal warning offers a striking glimpse into what residents were told about Rocky Flats—and raises questions about how that information changed over time.

Dr. Carl Johnson was Jefferson County's public health director when he began investigating plutonium contamination and cancer around Rocky Flats. His controversial research reported higher cancer incidence in areas with greater measured contamination, and his work became entangled with development, property values and his removal from office. Decades after his death, Johnson is increasingly remembered as an important Rocky Flats whistleblower whose questions about public heal

On Mother’s Day 1969, plutonium caught fire inside Rocky Flats Buildings 776/777. Firefighters battled the blaze for hours as portions of the filtration system were damaged and plutonium escaped. The accident became a turning point—bringing questions about contamination from the secretive nuclear weapons plant into public view.

On September 11, 1957, a plutonium fire at Rocky Flats spread into the building's filtration system, allowing radioactive material to escape into the atmosphere. Decades later, Colorado researchers reconstructed the accident and mapped how airborne plutonium may have traveled across surrounding communities.

Thousands of property owners near Rocky Flats spent more than 26 years pursuing claims over plutonium contamination, nuisance, and diminished property values. Cook v. Rockwell ultimately produced a $375 million settlement—but it did not address residents’ personal health claims.

On June 6, 1989, FBI and Environmental Protection Agency investigators entered the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant with a federal search warrant. The investigation became one of the defining events in Rocky Flats history. Twenty-five years later, former FBI agent Jon Lipsky sat down with Rocky Mountain PBS to describe, in his own words, how the investigation began, what investigators encountered at the plant, and what happened after the search. How the investigation began L

One of the most significant contamination events in Rocky Flats history did not begin with a fire or explosion. It began with drums of plutonium-contaminated waste oil stored outdoors. A 1996 study published in Health Physics reconstructed the release of plutonium from an area of the Rocky Flats Plant known as the 903 Pad. The research was conducted as part of a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment effort to reconstruct historical contaminant releases and esti

Long after the FBI's historic 1989 raid on the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, the agent who helped lead that investigation was still asking questions about what happened there—and whether the land surrounding the former plant should be opened to the public. In its May 2016 feature “Rogue Agent,” 5280 magazine profiled former FBI special agent Jon Lipsky and examined his continuing involvement with Rocky Flats nearly three decades after the raid. , The Investigation That C

Property owners near Rocky Flats spent 27 years pursuing claims over plutonium contamination. Their case ended in a $375 million settlement. Dow and Rockwell were the defendants—but federal indemnification meant they did not ultimately bear its financial cost. The federal government did.

Rocky Flats is a place many Coloradans drive past without knowing what once stood there—or why its history continues to matter. Half-Life of Memory is a documentary by Colorado artist and filmmaker Jeff Gipe that examines the history and legacy of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant through archival material and interviews with people whose lives intersect with its story. Gipe himself grew up near Rocky Flats, where his father worked. Telling the story through the people wh

Decades before homes were built at Candelas, members of the Church-McKay family sued over radioactive contamination of property near Rocky Flats and its effect on land use and value. Years later, Charles Church McKay became a developer of Candelas. The documented history connects Rocky Flats contamination, litigation and modern development in ways many current residents may never have heard.

On October 15, 1983, thousands of people joined hands around the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in one of the largest demonstrations in its history. The Encirclement was part of a protest movement that had grown from railroad blockades and mass arrests in the 1970s into sustained public scrutiny of the secretive nuclear weapons facility outside Denver.

After Rocky Flats was demolished and most of the former nuclear weapons site became a wildlife refuge, former grand jury foreman and Colorado legislator Wes McKinley fought to ensure its history didn't disappear with the buildings. His years-long campaign for explicit signage raised a question Colorado is still debating: What should visitors be told about what happened at Rocky Flats?

The Rocky Flats grand jury controversy is about more than a decades-old criminal investigation. It raises continuing questions about public access to historical records, government accountability, preservation of evidence and how communities can understand what happened at a former nuclear weapons facility when important records remain sealed or difficult to locate.