1. A HISTORY OF
CONTAMINATION WITH PLUTONIUM & AMERICIUM
Through
the 37 years that the Rocky Flats plant was in production its primary product
was the plutonium “pit” that forms the explosive fissile core of every nuclear
warhead in the US arsenal. Some 70,000 pits were fabricated at the plant. Each
pit is an atomic bomb in its own right, similar to the Trinity and Nagasaki
bombs, both of which were plutonium bombs. In thermonuclear or hydrogen bombs
the plutonium pit serves as the trigger that detonates the far more powerful
fusion explosion characteristic of hydrogen bombs. The principal isotope or
form of plutonium in bombs is plutonium-239. Considerable quantities of this
highly toxic material were released as minuscule particles into the Rocky Flats
environment. Plutonium-239 thus is the contaminant of principal concern at
Rocky Flats. In this paper it is referred to simply as plutonium.
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