The Nation - News from Sept. 22, 1989

Rockwell International Corp. filed a lawsuit seeking a federal court guarantee that criminal charges will not be filed against its “continuing operations” at the government’s Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Golden, Colo. Rockwell, which manages production of plutonium triggers used to detonate nuclear weapons, complained in its suit that it is required by a contract with the Energy Department to engage in toxic waste disposal operations deemed illegal by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department. The suit lists the three agencies and the federal government in general as defendants. Federal agents raided the plant last June as part of an investigation in which the FBI accused Rockwell and the Energy Department of illegally dumping and burning hazardous waste.