T-152 ee Ge eo eee es ee wee eee eee ees Ca PLUTONIUII AND PUBLIC HEALTI! Donald P. Geesamen Author's Note--June 1972 On May 11, 1969 a major fire occurred at the large Rocky Flats the AEC by the Dow Chemical Company. ee ed tere eet ee i ne ee ee were se Te ee ee es plutonium facility located northwest of Denver, Colorado, .and operated for ¥or description of this fire see AEC press releases M-121, May 20, 1969, and M-257, November 18, 1959. tt ett ere . a ef Se en Sel te ele Consequent to this fire E.A. Martell and S.E. Poct conducted a pilot study on the plutonium contamination of surface soils in the Rocky Flats environs. their results sugcesied an off site contamination that was orders of magnitude larger than that which would have been expected from the r4cusured plutonium releases in the cir effluent of the facility. | In a letter of January 13, 1970 to Glenn Seaborg, then chairman of the AEC, and in a press relcase of February 24, 1970 bythe Colorado ‘Committee on Environmental Information, ‘Martell etal. called attention . os » . SY In response the AEC fixed oS Xe the probable origin of the off site contamination as wind dispersal of plutonium leaking from rusted barrels of contaminated cutting of], and denied ‘that cause existed for concera over hazards to public health (see AKC pross release N-22, February 13, 1970), It was my conviction thal the At responce provided a distorted . sae ee me ee etme origin and over its significance to public health. ae ce wh eee Arete mene eeone to this anomalous contamination and expressed concern over its uncertain