Aerial Photos Spotted Peril at A-Plant, Affidavit Shows

Aerial infrared surveillance showed hazardous wastes being illegally burned at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday in last week’s federal raid on the facility.

The affidavit also accused Rocky Flats operators of illegally discharging pollutants into a creek on plant property and of unpermitted dumping of hazardous wastes.

U.S. Magistrate Hilbert Schauer unsealed the affidavit after a newspaper challenged withholding of the information that led Schauer to issue a search warrant for the raid Tuesday on the plant, which is located 16 miles northwest of Denver.

The 116-page affidavit catalogues the allegations made by FBI agent Jon Lipsky and indicates that the investigation into possible criminal violations of hazardous waste laws will probe activities at the nuclear weapons plant going back to November, 1980.

Rocky Flats is operated by Rockwell International Corp. for the Department of Energy. The plant makes plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons.

The affidavit also questions the DOE’s decision to award an $8.6-million bonus to Rockwell for excellent management of Rocky Flats.

The Rocky Mountain News reported in Friday’s editions that the General Accounting Office also has launched an investigation of performance bonuses awarded Rocky Flats’ managers.

The GAO investigation was the third blow sustained by the facility last week.

On Tuesday, 75 FBI and Environmental Protection Agency agents raided Rocky Flats in an operation dubbed “Operation Desert Glow.” On Wednesday, the Colorado Department of Health announced it had found 25 environmental violations at the plant.

The affidavit revealed that the FBI conducted aerial infrared surveillance at the plant on three nights in December to determine whether the incinerator in a plutonium reprocessing building that was closed for safety violations was being illegally operated. They found that it was. Building 771 had been closed by DOE inspectors in October. It reopened in January.

The DOE closed the building after a warning sign outside the building was accidentally covered up, and three DOE inspectors walked in without proper protective garb.

The affidavit also said that there was probable cause to believe Rockwell and DOE officials in November, 1985, falsely certified that Rocky Flats was in compliance with all applicable ground water monitoring requirements under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

“In fact, various Rockwell and DOE officials were aware of serious contamination and were informed that the monitoring system was deficient and did not comply with the RCRA,” the affidavit said.

Questions Arise on Bonus

Also questioned in the affidavit was an $8.6-million bonus awarded Rockwell by DOE in May, 1987. It said that DOE gave Rocky Flats’ health and safety programs and its waste-handling high marks.

At the same time, however, other DOE findings had said that “Rockwell had significant problems controlling radioactive contamination at the plant and that Rockwell provided DOE with erroneous and incomplete reports on environmental, health and safety matters.”

Chris Sankey, a DOE spokeswoman in Washington, said agency officials had not had time to study the affidavit and had no comment. She also said she was unaware of the GAO investigation.

Telephone messages left for Dennis Hurtt, Rockwell’s spokesman in Denver, were not returned.

FBI agents continued their on-site inquiry at the plant Friday. The investigation is expected to last at least through this week, said Bob Pence, agent in charge of the Colorado FBI office. The Justice Department is investigating whether hazardous waste was illegally disposed of at the plant and the actions then covered up.

The GAO investigation of the bonus program at Rocky Flats and other weapons plant is expected to be completed in about two months, said Carl Bannerman, assistant director of the GAO’s energy division in Washington.

The GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress, is expected to send investigators to the plant later this month, after the on-scene Justice Department probe is completed, Bannerman said.