Colorado Nuclear Mystery

Past investigations of the Rocky Flats nuclear-weapons plant near Denver have revealed shabby management, freaky accidents and dangerous pollution, and 75 FBI agents are currently there looking for proof of fraud in the disposal and incineration of plutonium-laden wastes. But what has environmental officials most puzzled is something they never expected to find even at trouble-prone Rocky Flats: traces of radioactive strontium and cesium that a nuclear chain reaction could produce -- even though there is no nuclear reactor at the site. The Environmental Protection Agency has demanded a study to determine how the mysterious isotopes got to Rocky Flats.

Last week the Department of Energy, which owns Rocky Flats, announced that state environmental officials would henceforth be allowed to inspect its plants and that if any safety violations were uncovered, the operators would be fired. In addition, state safety teams will conduct surprise aerial surveillances. Health and safety, says DOE Deputy Secretary Henson Moore, are ! "the first priority in the operation of any of our facilities."