“Plutonium Is Forever”: LeRoy Moore’s 2012 Warning About Rocky Flats

In January 2012, longtime Rocky Flats researcher and activist LeRoy Moore and photographer Robert Del Tredici published an opinion piece in the Boulder Daily Camera titled “Plutonium is forever.” Moore later preserved the article on his Rocky Flats blog, where it remains available today.

More than a decade later, the piece provides an important historical perspective on concerns surrounding Rocky Flats, the proposed Jefferson Parkway and opening the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge to public recreation.

A warning about decisions being made at Rocky Flats

Moore and Del Tredici argued that decisions about development and recreation at Rocky Flats should begin with the site's history of plutonium contamination.

Their central concern was the persistence of plutonium-239 in the environment. They pointed to its approximately 24,000-year half-life and argued that small plutonium particles remaining in soil could potentially be disturbed and inhaled. They were particularly concerned about activities that could disturb soil and about what those activities might mean over many generations.

The authors connected those concerns to two issues that remain familiar in Rocky Flats discussions today: the Jefferson Parkway and public recreation at the Wildlife Refuge.

At the time they wrote the piece, plans were moving forward to allow public recreation at the future refuge, while the proposed Jefferson Parkway would run along the eastern edge of Rocky Flats. Moore and Del Tredici believed both decisions deserved greater caution because of the site's contamination history.

The argument for precaution

The article also discusses the Precautionary Principle—the idea that when an action may pose serious or uncertain risks, uncertainty itself can be a reason for caution rather than a reason to assume there is no problem.

Moore and Del Tredici believed that principle should guide decisions involving Rocky Flats.

Their article was explicitly an opinion and advocacy piece, not a scientific study. It includes scientific and health claims as part of the authors' argument, as well as strong criticism of government decisions and agencies. Those claims and interpretations should be understood in that context.

Why we're sharing it

Rocky Flats Downwinders believes preserving historical perspectives is an important part of understanding Rocky Flats.

Government records, scientific studies, court documents, journalism and community voices do not always tell the story from the same perspective. Looking back at what people were saying at different points in Rocky Flats history helps us understand the questions being raised at the time—and which questions continue today.

This 2012 article is particularly relevant because the issues Moore and Del Tredici were writing about—residual contamination, soil disturbance, the Jefferson Parkway, public access and long-term stewardship—continue to be part of the conversation about Rocky Flats.

We encourage readers to read the original piece and consider the authors' arguments for themselves.

Read “Plutonium is forever” on LeRoy Moore’s original blog