( ) TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS AROUND THE ROCKY FLATS PLANT From the beginning of operations of the Rocky Flats Plant, organic liquids contaminated with radioactive materials, were generated in various manufacturing processes. It was initially assumed that this material could be either burned or packaged in some manner and shipped offsite for disposal as low level waste. Since no method of disposal was available research was initiated to develop a procedure to process these materials. , In the meantime, with the stockpile of contaminated oil increasing rapidly, an area on the Plant Site was de- Ssignated in July 1958 as a temporary storage area for the uranium and plutonium contaminated oil drums. During subsequent years, drums were continually added which contained mostly plutonium contaminated machine oils. The first drum leakage was discovered in July 1959 and a rust inhibitor, ethanolamine was added to the drums to minimize corrosion. The first evidence of deterioration of drums was discovered in 1964 and soil contamination was becoming a problem. The recovery process to treat the contaminated oils, became operational in January 1967 and removal of the drums from the storage area began. At this time the field contained 5240 drums, of which approximately 3570 contained plutonium oil. The oldest drums and those containing plutonium were processed first. The last of the plu- tonium-contaminated oil was removed in January 1968 and final shipment of uranium-contaminated oil was moved to the disposal plant in June 1968. An estimate of leakage, based upon a material balance from recovered materials and soil samples, indicated that 5000 gallons of oil containing about 86 grams (5 curies) of plutonium leaked from the drums into the soil. This was about 3% of the plutonium-contaminated oil. Radiation monitoring and mapping of the area in July 1968 showed levels of 2 X 105 to over 3 X 10? d/m/g alpha radio- activity. An asphalt containment cover was constructed