A Brief History of: The 1957 Rocky Flats Plutonium Fire (Short Documentary)

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#nuclear #atomic #rockyflats #plainlydifficult
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In the same year that Windscale in the UK set alight, another fire in the nuclear industry took place in the rocky flats plant in the US.
In 1957 the Rocky Flats plant in Colorado would experience a deadly plutonium fire in one of its Glove boxes.
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Sources:
www.colorado.gov/pacific/site...
www.energy.gov/lm/rocky-flats...
ehss.energy.gov/ohre/new/find...
large.stanford.edu/courses/201...
fas.org/nuke/cochran/nuc_1122...
www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.co08...
www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.co04...
www.colorado.gov/pacific/site...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
www.osti.gov/opennet/forms?fo...
coloradoencyclopedia.org/arti...
www.lm.doe.gov/cercla/documen...
news.google.com/newspapers?id...
By Los Alamos National Laboratory - From LANL's report on criticality accidents, 2000, www.csirc.net/docs/reports/la-... PDF at www.csirc.net/library/la_13638..., Attribution, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
www.pexels.com/video/close-up...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

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[@SlocketSeven]

you should look into Nuclear Metals, Inc. Also known as: Starmet, Inc., Whittaker Corp. Nuclear Metals Division, NMI They made, among other things, Depleted Uranium tank rounds, and they threw all their waste materials in an unlined retention pond next to a swamp. When they ran into financial problems they imported more nuclear waste and dumped it next to the retention pond. There was a big stink about it some years back when it got super fund status, and now everyone in the area has forgotten they have a nuclear waste dump in their back yards. There were no criticality incidents that i know of however, and it doesn't seem to have gotten into any ground water supplies. Perhaps not enough for a video, but an interesting read. none the less.

[@memphiskyle]

Remember everyone, nord sucks!

[@dillonventola408]

Thank you for doing this one. As someone who grew up in Broomfield, colorado( less than 5 miles away from rocky flats) I think this a very unknown incident even here in Colorado. They're talking about building a beltway and homes in this area and most of the people who would move there would be from out of state (Colorado is growing at an insane rate) and they would have no idea about it. I played for standly lake high school for hockey growing up and run off from this site goes stright into standly lake. It's advised to not swim in the lake or eat the fish from it but it supplies drinking water to nearly a quarter of a million people. Just crazy all around.

[@silasmarner7586]

Ack! Enough with the nordVPN shilling . I'm NEVER GONNA USE IT.

[@jwenting]

@@memphiskyle Correct. Worst security record of any VPN provider this side of Beijing that I'm aware of. May as well contract the Russian mafia directly and ask them to be your ISP.

[@carl8703]

"Fire at the nuke factory" sounds like it could be a heavy metal band.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

That would be a good name for a band!

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

A parody one or a nu- metal one.

[@Peron1-MC]

@@jed-henrywitkowski6470 U metal or Pu metal XD

[@xDragonHybridx]

Sounds like the cause of Panic at the Disco

[@Olsenator]

With their first hit single “toxic wastelandia”

[@trustyvault13canteen32]

"The ventilation was equipped with heat sensors to shut it off in case of a fire" "It was disabled"

[@AlloftheGoodNamesAreTaken]

And they disabled it because it was slowing production. Gotta always keep that bottom line in mind, ya know. The cost of replacing the filters was apparently not good for that bottom line either.

[@ricmac954]

@@AlloftheGoodNamesAreTaken The only thing preventing (worse?) widespread contamination from the 1950s Windscale fire in Britain was filtration that was nearly removed for reasons of cost. The lone insistence -- against pressure from the rest of officialdom -- of a scientist named Cockcroft was all that kept the filters in place. Pre-fire, they were referred to as Cockcroft's Folly. Good job hie didn't buckle under that pressure.

[@jefferyindorf699]

Of course it was disabled, if it weren't disabled there would not be a disaster.

[@FaustoTheBoozehound]

@Niek Vels Yikes. Sounds like a story for this channel!

[@zrspangle]

@Niek Vels that fire brigade must have been having a right old time with that

[@Damien.D]

Nuclear technicians most famous quotes : 1) "power is dropping, fully raise the control rods!" 2) "it's fun to let the fan blows on the fire!" 3) "false alarms? just disable safety features!" 4) "Criticality will never happens to me!"

[@Ihat-b2j]

”Most famous last words” also add “Let’s use a moderator on a plutonium fire” Edit:spelling. Im a dumb ass

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

Slotin: I got my screwdriver and two beryllium hemispheres. Time to do criticality measurements with my bestest friend Rufus. Enrico Fermi: You're going to be dead within a year. Slotin: No, I'm not. Today, Louis Slotin is a 2chan meme and has about 20 anime girls imitating him. Fermi isn't.

[@MariOfTheMountains]

4. "3.6 roentgen, not great not terrible"

[@Jay-ln1co]

*switch VPN to Iran* "Mr. president, the Iranians are conducting alarming amounts of research into nuclear materials."

[@gothicalpha]

You savaaaage!!!

[@a.leemartinii7202]

Pure genius!

[@daviddavidson2357]

*Switch VPN to Iran* "Mr. President the Iranians are conducting alarming amounts of research into nuclear materials" "zzzzzzzzzzz.... Yeah, good..... What's this about Iraq again? I thought we got saddam last year? Zzzzzzzzz"

[@masterimbecile]

Some people just want to watch the world burn

[@siamsurf]

Someone give this man a medal.

[@CommodoreFloopjack78]

"Welcome to beautiful Rocky Flats, ladies and gentlemen. Rocky Flats: At least we're not Chernobyl."

[@dillonventola408]

Unfortunately people don't know what happened here and will buy a home right next to the nuclear dump site

[@906MediaProductions]

@@dillonventola408 the book "full body burden" is a good read on this incident.

[@hexane360]

*at least we're not Cheylabinsk-40

[@bogdangabrielonete3467]

"Oh, that static sound? That's just 3.6 Roetgen. Not great, but not terrible either."

[@DSjockey]

More by dumb luck than design, I say a prayer for my brothers who have passed due to working at that place

[@danielheald411]

I've learned from your channel that nuclear energy itself is not what we should be afraid of. It's idiots who don't take safety when handling nuclear energy seriously is what we should be afraid of.

[@sciencetroll6304]

No. Nuclear energy itself IS what we should be afraid of.

[@danielheald411]

@@sciencetroll6304 agree to disagree.

[@YeetxBoi]

@@danielheald411 his name is science troll, don't feed it

[@leechjim8023]

AMEN!!!

[@truegeekified]

There is the 1969 fire. The storage pads. The ponds. The other fires... The multiple near criticalities... The amount of flat out negligence that was allowed there bogles the mind. The line workers fought and fought for better conditions. Often times losing their jobs for refusal to do a task they knew to be unsafe. My grandfather almost died multiple times out there. This night being one of the first times. Great video. I hope you do more. At the highest count, I had 24 family members working on the site.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you! Next week is the 1969 fire.

[@TinyScorpion44]

Rocky Flats is just one long chain of fuck ups and they did a really great job hushing everything up. I'm glad there will be more videos so it doesn't become forgotten along with all the people who worked there and were purposefully forgotten

[@essr4580]

@@TinyScorpion44 people hear about Chernobyl and think "that couldn't have happened here" and it seems like it easily could have

[@cool110]

The much anticipated return of foot-stepping guy.

[@tncorgi92]

He must be a jinx, always shows up when trouble starts.

[@gosmo4504]

@@tncorgi92 balls

[@willyolio9590]

Stone age: "Fire is good" Industrial age: "Fire is useful" Atomic age: "Fire is radioactive"

[@FoolOfAToke]

I love seeing my name get smaller and smaller on the supporter splash. Love that you seem to be doing well, keep it up. We obviously like it!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you I really appreciate your support!!

[@conzmoleman]

and yet he needs to run in ad paid promotions within a video this short? jesus christ.

[@Terri_MacKay]

@@conzmoleman It's a paid sponsorship...how is that a bad thing? It just means extra money that can go into making videos and sustaining the channel. If you don't want to watch it, just FF.

[@pokehybridtrainer]

@@conzmoleman Gotta pay the bills.

[@christycullen2355]

@@conzmoleman as if you wouldn't take the offer of extra cash. "Do you want a pay rise but you have to do like 30 seconds of work" No thanks coz one guy on my KZbin got butthurt

[@TheIcyWizard705]

It's never good when you can use the words "plutonium" and "fire" in the same sentence, let alone when they're right next to each other

[@PlainlyDifficult]

The best fires are plutonium fires

[@tcpratt1660]

@@PlainlyDifficult [Santa Susanna Field Laboratory has entered the chat.] "Hot dog roast will take place at the sodium burn pit in one hour!"

[@alexitocr1989]

I'm a simple man, i see a Plainly Dificult notification, i stop everything im doing and watch the video

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@FerroequinologistofColorado]

I’m the same exact way

[@p1nkfreud]

7:57 Don't forget that Pu is not just an a-emitter, but is also separately toxic in the sense of a heavy metal, akin to cadmium or lead. Even if you were somehow invulnerable to the radioactivity, Pu is still *highly* poisonous. This is in contrast to U, which is only slightly toxic if you were invulnerable to the radioactivity.

[@dillonventola408]

Thank you for doing this one. As someone who grew up in Broomfield, colorado( less than 5 miles away from rocky flats) I think this a very unknown incident even here in Colorado. They're talking about building a beltway and homes in this area and most of the people who would move there would be from out of state (Colorado is growing at an insane rate) and they would have no idea about it. I played for standly lake high school for hockey growing up and run off from this site goes stright into standly lake. It's advised to not swim in the lake or eat the fish from it but it supplies drinking water to nearly a quarter of a million people. Just crazy all around.

[@davidcisneros1429]

How about a conversation about Fukushima...... In the Bible it claims that a third of the world's oceans are to be dead in the end of times. I think the Bible is right. The Pacific is dying fast!

[@dillonventola408]

@@davidcisneros1429 I'd be more concerned with the thousands of barrels of DDT sitting off the coast of California

[@dr.floridaman4805]

@@davidcisneros1429 the bible was written by a council with the roman emperor having final say. To place your trust on government conspiring with church leaders is insane.

[@cyan_2169]

@@davidcisneros1429 The bible is fiction

[@MsMeteorShower]

I live up the hill from Golden, and it's crazy to see how much things have built up around Rocky Flats. Those poor people moving into Candelas with no idea what's going on in the soil 😬

[@sylphin6857]

My grandmother worked there. The hatred I have for that place.. If not for the radiation, I probably would of gotten to get to know her and grow close. I’m glad more attention is being brought to this whole situation.

[@ChrisInIndy06]

I have lived in Denver for the past 10 years and the entire Rocky Flats area has been developed into vinyl villages and subdivisions, mainly occupied by people who are completely unaware of the history of what happened here. It's crazy.

[@luke144]

I worked there for a couple years. I worked testing soil and other materials for decontamination. It's far from all cleaned up!!! There is underground waste that will never be delt with. It's so bad and it's a public space now. Crazy!!! Plutonium is still everywhere.

[@luke144]

There are some DARK secrets buried out there!

[@benjaminx418]

I grew up about 45 minutes from Rocky Flats. Golden is a beautiful place when there isn’t a plutonium incident.

[@mrbyamile6973]

It's still regularly in the news here in Colorado so it's still a contaminated place despite being a wildlife refuge.

[@phitzwellthundercock3894]

It’s why Coors makes you feel so shitty the next day I knew it!!

[@blacksabbbath87]

the most under rated part of pictures from the 70s is seeing the cars in the parking lot

[@kasugaifox8571]

Running theme seems to be... "Safty, what safety? Oh that safty, the one we turned off because is was slowing down production"

[@Bobrogers99]

How many people disable a smoke alarm near the kitchen because it bleats when they cook? Quite a few, I suspect. A neighbor disabled the kill switch on his lawnmower. His name is "Lefty".

[@arandomperson8336]

"Hey guys, our safety system keeps going off and slowing down production!" "Just turn it off, that'll fix the problem!"

[@ricmac954]

And there you have why no civil nuclear power generation will ever be safe, either: complacency, corner-cutting and deceit.

[@mykofreder1682]

They had a lot of people who didn't know what they were doing and probably because of the danger of the material experiments probably were not run to figure out what to do. That they didn't have a procedure to deal with fire like only use CO2 and of course close off all venting when using CO2 since it isn't effective if you keep replacing it with air by venting. Using water on the material will likely result in an explosion warning might have got their attention.

[@adamk203]

@@ricmac954 After TMI, civil nuclear power generation in the US has had a stellar safety record. And in fact, cutting corners reduces reliability, meaning more plant outages. Given that US nuclear achieved a record breaking 93% capacity factor in 2019, they definitely did not cut corners.

[@ricmac954]

@@adamk203 See the Kemeny Commission's report?

[@arandomperson8336]

@@mykofreder1682 I'm a chemist by trade and I find the amount of negligence required for this to happen to completely unbelievable, even for this channel. They already had gloveboxes and the correct kind of ventilation system, why weren't they handling known pyrophoric materials under an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen? Why weren't the air filters being changed regularly? Fume hood fire suppression is a thing, even back then, why wasn't it installed? Why did they disable their safety system instead of fixing it properly?

[@Munrowon]

Misheard the first reference in the video of 'nuclear pits' as 'nuclear piss' thought we were going for some new levels of experimental for a second there,

[@neuralmute]

What do you need to drink for nuclear piss to happen? Vodka straight from Reactor 4?

[@Deusmecumest]

@@neuralmute give Godzilla a lot of beer.

[@rogerchampion1952]

there were situations at RF in which people accidentally got Pu into their bloodstream and the treatment was to get them to ingest a chelation agent and go on a pissing marathon

[@neuralmute]

@@rogerchampion1952 That sounds like what you have to do after they inject the radioactive tracer for a bone scan! Drink litres of water to flush it from your bloodstream so the nice glowy bits can settle in your bones, then piss a lake before the scan!

[@MrChainsawAardvark]

I dob't think Plainly Difficult has done a video on Karen Silkwood yet.

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

Oh good, Dow Chemical was brought in. Nothing bad can happen now.

[@bificommander7472]

About as reassuring as hearing Union Carbide got the contract.

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

@@bificommander7472 I hope they subcontracted to Haliburton!

[@Shadow_Lunatale]

Oh, a fire, so nothing that problematic... *reading the thumbnail title* A fire in a WHAT? Thanks for keeping us informed on how often such desasters struck the world throughout the decades.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

😂😂I sometimes feel like I work for a tabloid newspaper with my title cards!!

[@justanotherguy469]

And to think these accidents happen, usually because of gross negligence, and the government does not inform the public which they are sworn to protect and defend.

[@trinalgalaxy5943]

@@PlainlyDifficult Well despite the fact that you are reporting on events that occurred decades ago, you do a hell of a lot better job than any reporter has in the last 10 years!

[@SamGarfield1]

The full story of Rocky Flats is absolutely shocking. I lived right down the street in 1991 when another fire caused by removing safety mechanisms burned through the entire stack and made the roof of the building “marshmallow.” Had the roof actually breached, Denver would be a Chernobyl today. As is, the soil is highly contaminated. But don’t worry because after they cleaned it up for 1/100th of the estimated costs they started building houses there! You have to sign documents that say you won’t dig in the soil around your house. Presumably they got ground hogs and moles to sign similar paperwork. I highly recommend the book “Full Body Burden.”

[@truegeekified]

I had multiple family members that fought that fire and were involved in the cleanup. None of them are alive anymore but the stories from them were amazing.

[@adder3597]

Rocky Flats can be summed up quite easily. *"You're Doing It Wrong!"*

[@cris_261]

Over and over again. They never learned.

[@Zerububble]

DOW chemical, a coverup? Name a more iconic duo.

[@feedle]

As someone who lives not far away from it, I can assure you that they are STILL doing it wrong.

[@adder3597]

@@feedle From the longer term site contamination I'm guessing? The plant was entirely decommissioned and dismantled by 2006 as far as the information I have to hand states.

[@feedle]

@@adder3597 Redevelopment of a lot of the area surrounding the site has been full of controversy. Everything from extending Denver's outer loop highway (C-470) to housing developments seem to generate bullshit and chips to this day.

[@mysickfix]

Saturday morning at work just got better!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Glad to hear it!

[@1966someguy]

"And so it was discovered that the disastrous nuclear plant fire was caused by a worker who was distracted with a plainly difficult video" 😆

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Yes: 'In today's episode, in an ironic turn, today's accident, which rates here at 9 on the PD disaster scale, Joshua who works the Saturday shift at the Wutcudgorong Nuclear Facility, failed to notice the flashing alarm light, since the audible alarm had been disabled (Cue foot stepping, lab coat wearing, clipboard guy), because he was distracted by watching a Plainly Difficult video on KZbin...'

[@colchronic]

Im a simple man. I see a PD video and immediately upvote

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@VanquisherUSMC]

Finally, my home state! I've lived less than 20 miles from there since 1985. I've been waiting for this for a good while!!

[@dillonventola408]

Colorado has a crazy history with the nuclear sector that is rarely talked about

[@jaykace5160]

Yeahhhhhhhhhhh, that's how you put a cherry on top of a Saturday! You rock, good sir! Keep up the amazing work! I can never get enough of your videos!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks again!

[@carlswenson5403]

My father was one of the lead project managers for the R.F. closure project. He started working there in the mid 1980's as a machinist and was there all the way up to the point of the dirt work that returned the site to its natural topography. He an his team were always rather proud that the water that left the facility was cleaner than the water that flowed onto it. In all reality, much less of a dumpster fire than you make it out to be.

[@jlogg8738]

As a Colorado Native it does my heart good to see some mention of Rocky Flats in your channel. I've been waiting quite a while for it, and I'm glad that the story is receiving more attention.

[@LiamWarlord]

you didn't even get to the part where Rocky flats is built in the single windiest place in Colorado upwind of the largest city in Colorado.

[@dillonventola408]

And the stream that goes through the property supplies standly lake... Which supplies drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people

[@ahmaddanielazmi1339]

It's like they're going for maximum's environmental damage if a serious accident happen at the site.

[@KrazzyKelsie]

Makes me wonder everytime I've driven by, why they thought it was a good idea!

[@KB4QAA]

LIam: Actually the prevailing winds are from the Southwest from Denver TOWARDS RF. RF is DOWNWIND of Denver. The remaining part of the year the winds are light and variable. Another False story peddled on YT. Source: www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/historyclimate/climatemodelled/denver_united-states-of-america_5419384

[@KrazzyKelsie]

@@KB4QAA aight you drive down highway 93 between Golden and Boulder and you tell me which way the wind blows. 9 days out of 10 it's blowing towards Denver. I've driven that road countless times. Almost always its windy. Almost always its blowing west to to east. Edit highway 93 runs just west of Rocky flats property

[@gyromurphy]

What I want to know is when will hazmat man 1 finally get off of hazmat man 2's foot?

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Never, they are actually conjoined twins from all the radiation they have been exposed to!

[@namibjDerEchte]

@@PlainlyDifficult I thought he was just a tumor that grew out of the foot and turned out to basically be a clone.

[@tcpratt1660]

Discrimination against even numbered hazmat men...hazmat man 2 needs to do some stepping for a change, or else there will be a discrimination case filed under Section 234, Part 95, of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 - that is the Americium way!

[@Daydreaminginmono]

Rocky flats ahaha that twitter picture is fantastic. Now i understand!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It has all fallen into place

[@awkwardsp00n]

Starting my day off right with a healthy does of knowledge. Love your work.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@Soundbrigade]

HEALTHY?, You’re kidding!😳

[@ashtonlove5161]

I lived I Colorado all my life and even for a few short years I lived across the street of the empty field where rocky flats used to be. It is scary to think such a potentially disastrous happened in my own backyard.

[@victor9sur768]

when your glove box sets on fire you're in for a sh!tty day, just dump in Argon and hope for the best 😐

[@Contrapunctus1984]

I would add a hint of fluorine, hydrogen and oxigen in 1:1:1 ratio, just for good measure

[@victor9sur768]

@@Contrapunctus1984 Crack open the xenon tetrafluoride and let it rip....it's how mine ended up with a big ol' scorch mark

[@chrislittle9419]

I live near there. There’s a few reservoirs downstream/downwind of the site which provide municipal drinking water. Swimming is not allowed in standley lake because they’re afraid it might stir up plutonium oxide at the bottom of the lake. That’s right, that’s their plan to keep the plutonium out of the drinking water.

[@handledhandlehandlinghandler]

You're kidding.

[@AnchisesGamer]

There’s a relatively new housing development that’s not even a mile south of the old plant. I have some family friends that moved into that area a few years ago, idk why though because we all know of the Rocky Flats screwups

[@dillonventola408]

I grew up in Breckenridge and lived in Broomfield and have know about it all my life. It's kind of a mobid subtle joke that goes around that the only people who would buy houses there would be transplants who don't know.

[@bower31]

@@dillonventola408 I've gone to the area a few years back and there is still measurable contamination below the topsoil layer. The housing contracts stipulate home owners cannot plant fruit bearing plants, or dig below the topsoil layer. Most home owners never bother to read that far though, and the houses are targeted to people emigrating from other states mostly.

[@Lilysilly1984]

that's what i was thinking, it seems like most locals know that that place is not safe.

[@jackfanning7952]

Rocky Flats radioactivity is stilol killing. The gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving.

[@qzh00k]

Its a park now, bring the kids. Thats our nuclear gang!

[@qzh00k]

@PoorMans Chemist add a tour of the Hanford Reservation in Washington, it is amazing and another tragedy. The cleanup site tour was cancelled a few years ago, the tour bus I was on was the last and was involved in a radiological accident. The park itself is still open, and visit LIGO while there. Defund nukes

[@MalleusSemperVictor]

@@qzh00k To be fair, it's what happens when you pay the lowest bidding contractor to do the most dangerous work. I find this especially true if you keep awarding contracts to companies that have the dubious honor of having multiple superfund sites to their name. Yes, we are talking about you Dow Chemicals with your 96 superfund sites.

[@qzh00k]

@PoorMans Chemist there are tons and tons of it at the Savannah River complex in Aiken SC. Its the east coasts Hanford and highly underrated, intentionally. Whats a few tons of Isotopes among friends?

[@jfan4reva]

Not to worry, it'll go away by itself,,,half of it will be gone in 36,000 years.... Well, at least the radioactivity will be gone. It'll still be a toxic chemical.

[@vex-nh]

I could swear you're saying "the manufacture of plutonium piss" and the bomb graphic sorta looks like a toilet. I'd put that combo much higher on the disaster scale.

[@mariovalencia2243]

Ya know, really gotta thank you for making these videos. Lot of research and time spent to make each one!

[@bluecat2741]

New episode of: "Hurray, humans do still exist!". Waiting for the day when we all will get killed by our own stupidity?

[@rollerdragon]

sir, thank you for opening this disaster rabbit hole... it needs to be revisited. again, thank you

[@noname2490]

Your little cartoons always make a tense disaster more fun

[@stevephillips3541]

There were minor earthquakes in the late 60's felt in Boulder and Broomfield near Rocky Flats which were later found to be from the plant pumping waste down deep wells . Later Catch ponds on site were found to be contaminated with radioactivity . The original placement of the plant was also not so smart because the wind there come directly out of the west and thus blows right over the Denver metro area if any radioactive release after an accident will to

[@annferguson3113]

“Located in a nature reserve.” This is going to be interesting.

[@dillonventola408]

It's now a nature reserve, it wasn't when it was opened

[@cameronjournal]

I can't wait for the next video. This was very exciting because no one ever covers this facility. I grew up near Rocky Flats and when I was a kid, they would shut down the interstates to transport out the waste from the entire facility at night. They had a big demonstration at Mile High stadium to show off the canisters and how it was going to be done. They found waste buried everywhere. They packed up all the buildings and the top 3 feet of soil to clean the place up. It's still so hot that it's a nature preserve that no one is allowed to enter. You can see the outside of it and the old railroad tracks that lead to the facility. Protesters used to block the train tracks in the 70s to try and disrupt production. There used to be an organization called "Hands Around Rocky Flats" where people would gather and pray for the closure of the facility. There's a weird feeling around the place. I was cast in a play called Rocky Flats that was about life after the facility blew up and I drove out there to research my role. The saddest part is that there are many people who were sick because they worked too close to plutonium production and were protected. I'm talking secretaries and receptionists. Because the facility is closed and there's no one to sue, the federal government had to pick up the tab. They ran the families around for years and payouts just began to arrive this year. My Nana's neighbor worked out there years ago and got his half a million about a week before he died at 81 years old. There was a documentary about it by a local Arvada filmmaker. If you are interested in a peek into the site from a fictional perspective, I wrote a short story called Windswept Wastes. I did exhausting research into the production and did my best to create life at the plant around the 1967 plutonium fire. You can read it here: rougesmagazine.com/windswept-wastes-a-short-story-by-cameron-cowan/?amp

[@andrewshepherd383]

For a long time, I lived just a few miles away from Rocky Flats. My grandpa actually worked there in the glove boxes and told stories of all the sketchy stuff they did. In the last 3-4 years, they built houses all around it and the people have absolutely no idea. Most are probably from out of state, and have never heard of Rocky Flats. I've heard the HOA actually makes them sign a document saying they won't grow food in their gardens. The nearby Standley Lake is also radioactive but to what degree I don't know. I've swam and sailed on it and there are parts you are not allowed to go in if memory serves.

[@FenianAn1mal]

Yay! Another nuke vid! I'm gonna rate this video a 9 on the glow in the dark greatness scale!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

😬😬

[@FenianAn1mal]

@@PlainlyDifficult I've been meaning to ask you to check out the portsmouth gaseous diffusion plant in piketon ohio. It's been in "decommissioning" since 2011, but in 2019 enriched uranium and neptunium-237 were found in a middle school about 2 miles from the plant.

[@FenianAn1mal]

Ohio in general has had an interesting affair with nuclear. In 1943 B&t metals of my city Columbus, was contracted to extrude uranium rods for the Hanford reactors. Ofc they didn't detect the contamination until 1988-89, and cleanup wasn't completed until 2001.

[@johnbroski1993]

Kicking back with breakfast and nuclear disasters.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Mmmm tasty

[@joeybab3]

I miss when you said the number you rated it on your scale so I didn’t have to roll over and look at my phone lol

[@JoeyJoJoJoestarJuniorShabadoo]

I look forward to your upcoming video on the Three Gorges Dam collapse.

[@SupersuMC]

Heheh...wait, what?!

[@tamanebp]

Such a shame that these accidents are frequently caused by just plain laziness and greed.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

History does just repeat itself like a broken record

[@joeottsoulbikes415]

This is why Homer was an engineer at a nuclear power plant and Mr. Burns owned it. Simply displaying real life.

[@alreed2434]

@J Fz They were told through a study I believe 3 years before they needed to raise the seawall. Of course they deemed it unnecessary or too expensive... dont remember which but again familiar happening.

[@skatatataatje]

"They used something that they shouldn't use and that was water at 10:38 PM" So you're saying that you can only use water at certain timeframes to put out the fire?

[@joeottsoulbikes415]

Exactly. It gets hard to remember all the situations where you should not use water. Fire involving cooking grease, gasoline, oil products and certain plastics + water=bigger fire more spread out. Fire involving electricity + water=electric shock to fire fighter. Medium to large quantities of Lye+water=chemical burns to anyone in physical contact, burns to lungs from gas, increased heat that can break glass and melt some metals Now I also know fire+certain radioactive metals=bigger fire, possible spread of radioactive contamination, off gassing of dangerous isotopes. Wonder what else I don't know.

[@jenniferofholliston5426]

There is as a comma! Didn’t you hear it? 😉

[@jenniferofholliston5426]

Also, I definitely typed “was a comma,” dam U autocorrect!

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Just like covid, but after 10:00 pm when it comes out :-)

[@JAMESWUERTELE]

@@BrilliantDesignOnline that made me laugh! Thanks!

[@railgap]

I live downwind of Rocky Flats. Glad it's closed. I knew a guy who worked QC there, he said worker attitudes were terrifying - people deliberately poking holes in glovebox airfilters with screw drivers in order to trip a radiation alarm to get some free break time! There were several fires, some smaller ones were hushed up. There were criticality accidents, and chemical spills, radiation releases into both the air and water that crosses the site... there used to be little silver air monitoring boxes all the hell over the place in the Denver, Jefferson, and Boulder Counties.

[@3v068]

Man i just saw my old comment from 3 years ago. Ive watched so much of your content that i have a feeling that if i were to start becoming a firefighter, i would have so much information on radiation that my co workers would be worried about me lol

[@Seb94Argent]

"The highest risk of exposure of the local population was to persons who were exercising or were working outside in areas where the plume of plutonium particles was near the ground" See, that's why I don't exercise

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Same!

[@CooperBensonskycoop]

I live in the area and it's amazing how these accidents are still relevant. Just a few months back the county governments had to cancel a massive highway project years in the making because soil testing was still turning up plutonium

[@dillonventola408]

I'm glad Broomfield finally had some sense

[@Terensu-desu]

I absolutely love the thumbs up that are present in all these videos. Excellent humor

[@AthensAtWork]

I live about 30 minutes south of rocky flats and have many friends who worked there during operations and clean up. All say a fire truck, so contaminated from the fire was buried in one of their trenches. They specifically left in in the ground because they had no way to safely dispose of a complete fire truck that has been contaminated. Open pools of contaminated material also leaked into the grounds surrounding the plant. Is a total disaster area, deemed safe for all. The stories of rocky flats could fill many hours of videos on what not to do

[@henriknilsson7851]

I lived in Golden for a while, well only 9 months. I knew about Rocky Flats and thought the “wildlife preserve” a bit dubious. Seems convenient, make the contaminated place a preserve to hide all of the “plutonium turnings” and dust lurking about the place.

[@fixman88]

The idea of 'Plutonium Turnings' makes me god-damn cringe.

[@pikmaniac2643]

Well at least there’s an upside to my insomnia today, I get to catch a Plainly Difficult episode!

[@owenleejoeking2683]

I am so glad you did a video about this. I've long been interested

[@SamGarfield1]

Oh I hope you do the 1991 fire. That’s the one I was down the street in ground zero for.

[@SupersuMC]

How are you still alive?!

[@FerroequinologistofColorado]

I don’t live to far from this plant. I’ve actually been past it a few times. I honestly never knew about this accident.

[@NyanyiC]

I read that as 'i don't live far from this planet... ' 😳😳😳😳😁😁

[@FerroequinologistofColorado]

@@NyanyiC HA!

[@dillonventola408]

My guess is you're not a colorado native? I mean no offense by that but I grew up in Breckenridge and lived in Broomfield and have know about it all my life. It's kind of a mobid subtle joke that goes around that the only people who would buy houses there if they build them would be transplants who don't know.

[@FerroequinologistofColorado]

@@dillonventola408 I was born in Colorado in 2000

[@dillonventola408]

@@FerroequinologistofColorado that makes sense, so we're my sisters and I don't think they know much about it either

[@Paradox460_yt]

Would be interesting to see a Plainly Difficult on the Cerro Grande fire in 2000, since it burned down some Los Alamos Lab sites, and is still one of the most expensive forest fires in history

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@TinyScorpion44]

I was born and raised downwind/water of Rocky Flats and I'm so glad to see one of my favorite channels is doing not one but two videos on it! It really is one of the lesser known nuclear clusterfucks and it's more than a little alarming how well it was covered up

[@dillonventola408]

Same. I think it's funny standly lake supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people yet they say don't eat the fish there or go near the water

[@TinyScorpion44]

@@dillonventola408 I drank that water through more or less my entire childhood. Needless to say when I first found out about all the Rocky Flats stuff as an adult, I did kinda wonder if that was a part of why I was often a sick kid. Correlation=/=causation, but who knows. My mom's best friend's husband also worked start to finish on the cleanup

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

A plutonium fire, is a thing. This I have to listen to! Thanks for your painstaking research and skills at editing, giving us a clear understanding of these things happen. Normally, it's people peopling.

[@LeahMarshals22]

Am I wrong for wanting to see a video with a PD disaster scale rating of 10? I mean. A plutonium fire sounds bad...what could be worse?

[@0v3rr1d3]

Been waiting for this one. Yeah, you can't really cover all of Rocky Flats in one vid. Multiple books have been written about it

[@dillonventola408]

It's just mind blowing, especially the stuff towards the end of its life.

[@TinyScorpion44]

It's pretty amazing how the whole story was so crazy yet so few people know about it still, even in the Denver area

[@koalasez1200]

I worked there for a couple years w/a subcontractor when the cleanup started after Rockwell & EG&G had 'managed' it. The first year I was underground and year 2, next to the beryllium tent. Hearing about the things that happened was very sobering. I understand one of the areas that had the fire was [and still is] so hot they couldn't open it up to recover the workers who had died. This was from several of the guys who had worked there for years. It was fascinating, extremely sad and spooky at the same time. Lots of frustration and anger from those who had been on site for decades, and understandably so. And the coverups continue all over the DoE.

[@0v3rr1d3]

The things people can get away with under the banner of "national security" is disgusting.

[@sapper12b68]

Finally waited for this one for awhile

[@TheCoolstuff103]

Awesome! Before bed video! Great work Plainly Difficult love your videos!

[@slimeinc.3822]

disheartening to think about how many similar-scale incidents must have happened over the 20th century that the involved parties entirely covered up

[@ShermanistDruid]

But is it that they were covered up or was it so that journalist were just as incapable of journalism back then?

[@gordiemeow]

Do you think you'd ever do a more meta video (probably a short one, haha) discussing the most common issues/failures in nuclear weapons production vs energy production? :)

[@Manmademadman]

Thank you for this, and I'm looking forward to your next episode. I grew up about 20 miles from Rocky Flats, and still live in Denver, so this is very interesting content!

[@jeffersonmorris888]

Rocky Flats is now a wildlife refuge with hiking trails. It's in a beautiful spot and has a great bar nearby. 5 out of 5 stars, will recommend.

[@salamisalesexpress]

You should do a video on the Knox Mine Disaster!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for th suggestion!

[@noahbagel177]

*FIRE*

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Burn baby Burn!

[@zovjraar]

I seriously love videos. Interesting content, not too long, great voice, and the animations kill me.

[@Ratcher.]

I have been waiting so long for a rocky flats videos.

[@jerry2357]

At 3:52, “pyrophoric” is pronounced pi-rho-for-ic, with the pi and the rho pronounced like the Greek letters.

[@Chainsaw-ASMR]

Radioactive Dumpster Fire...don't give 2021 any ideas.

[@ssg9offical]

Don’t give 2024 ideas.

[@stevenodland]

Awesome vid....thanks for sharing, I enjoy watching these

[@MusicBent]

This hardly scratches the surface of the rocky flats disaster. Barrels stored outside and rusting, radioactive waste ponds, ‘pond-Crete’ and their storage outside in cardboard, plutonium dust in the ventilation systems, PCB usage, the FBI raid of their own government facility, being left abandoned for years, storing barrels in hallways etc., and the other buildings and incidents.

[@aubs400]

I wonder what could have- *see DOW Chemical* Ah, that's why

[@AlloftheGoodNamesAreTaken]

That's exactly what I thought. "Oh, DOW, of course."

[@fizzplease6742]

"Normally, X failsafe should have prevented Y problem. However, this was disabled." ::facepalm::

[@SharkMochi]

Yay I've been waiting for this one!!

[@aggromando7323]

Another great segment! Love the channel. Cheers!

[@bmstylee]

Golden Colorado eh? So that's what gives Coors it's crappy taste.

[@KrazzyKelsie]

Sadly it's just a crappy beer. The water they use for coors comes from a different river than the one the runs through Rocky flats. Coors is just a shit beer.

[@bmstylee]

@@KrazzyKelsie I was hoping there was a reason it sucked. Mass produced American beer sucks. No nice way to put it.

[@comput3rman77]

It's too bad that Halon wasn't available as a fire extinguishing medium at the time.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Just destroy the ozone instead of spreading radiation everywhere...

[@KB4QAA]

C77: Halon is a general name for a number of substances that have been used as fire extinguishing agents since around 1900, including Carbon Tetrachloride. There were probably at least a dozen gas agents they could have used in the 1950's. Think cost.

[@KB4QAA]

This statement is found: "Halon is not found to be effective on chemicals capable of rapid oxidation in the absence of air, reactive metals (sodium, magnesium., potassium, titanium, zirconium, plutonium, uranium, and the like), metal hydrides, and chemicals capable of autothermal decomposition. Also, many authorities will not recommend halon for protection of ordinary combustibles as the halon agent does not have the penetrating power that water does. Granted, halon will interrupt the chain reaction, but once the halon is dissipated, the fire may rekindle.

[@Itsthefry69]

So glad another video is out 😊

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Glad you're watching! there should be a video every week now for 3-4 weeks!

[@Itsthefry69]

@@PlainlyDifficult great! your voice and style of presenting is top notch 👍

[@swilliams937]

Just wanted to comment that I always LOL at your "Balls!" illustrations. 😂🤣

[@rocbolt]

Just a note, you’re misleading people by describing rocky flats as “in Golden, Colorado”, which is 10 miles away and not downwind of it either. Boulder is the same distance to the north. The affected communities are primarily Arvada and Bloomfield, which are both much closer and downwind of the plumes. I know various google addresses say Golden because it has to say something as a placeholder, but it is an unincorporated place in Jefferson county that has nothing to do with the actual town of Golden, nor is it particularly close to it.

[@judithmohr5265]

Broomfield. I grew up there. I was always scared of Rocky Flats!

[@MeriaDuck]

So many stories like this contain 'however, this was disabled'. In one way it makes sense, as you never hear of a prevented accident because safety systems did their job. On the other hand, it shows that if a safety system is too trigger happy, it gets disabled or ignored, which is maybe worse than not having such a system at all.

[@mahogany3947]

I love how the place is conveniently located in the middle of a nature reserve

[@j50wells]

I worry about the people who currently live on Candelas Parkway. It defies logic that houses were ever built there. Do they even know the dangers? Were they lied to?

[@recurvestickerdragon]

Fire in the GloveBox... Fire in the... Taco Bell! 🎶

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Fire in the gates of hell!

[@nonna_sof5889]

So, what you're saying is Rocky Flats has a, rocky history! …I'll show myself out.

[@Jetcom10]

I knew a man who was a security guard there was was caught in one of the innumerable "minor" spills at the plant - he died of "unrelated" leukemia - wonder how unrelated it really was

[@lvlister2005]

Your videos are always interesting and very informative I’m a massive fan :)