Committees Oppose Plans to Reopen Lab at Rocky Flats : Defense: The government panels say workers at the weapons plant could face plutonium contamination.

Two government committees have criticized plans to resume operations in a laboratory at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, saying workers could be exposed to plutonium contamination.

The laboratory, known as Building 559, was to have been the model for restarting plutonium operations at the rest of the plant 15 miles northwest of Denver. The lab analyzes radioactive and hazardous waste for disposal, and performs quality control tests on plutonium samples from bomb production lines.

Rocky Flats’ plutonium operations were suspended in December, 1989, following repeated safety violations and other problems. Energy Secretary James Watkins has said he will not allow plutonium operations at the plant to resume until it is safe.

The Advisory Committee on Nuclear Facility Safety, appointed by Watkins, and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which reports to Congress, sent letters expressing their concerns about Building 559 to Watkins on Monday. The Associated Press obtained copies of the letters.

The AP also obtained two reports written by plant operator EG&G; Inc. last spring that severely criticized the lab and conclude it is in such bad shape it cannot be fixed to meet safety standards.

“Why restart a facility that will pose such risks to plant workers and will probably have to be shut down shortly after it is started up?” said Jason Salzman, a researcher for Greenpeace USA, which obtained the EG&G; documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

But Rocky Flats DOE manager Robert Nelson said the laboratory is ready to be put back into use.

Rocky Flats is the only U.S. facility that makes the plutonium cores for nuclear warheads.

The committee reports were critical of Building 559’s readiness to resume operations.

John F. Ahearne, head of the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Facility Safety, said an operational readiness review of Building 559 in July had to be canceled because EG&G; was not ready.

During the July review, some procedures were found to be so flawed that workers could not even complete the tests. Workers were unable to find drawings of vital safety systems to turn off an electrical panel, and a fire test in progress had to be canceled.

John T. Conway, chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, said in his letter that he was not satisfied workers in Building 559 would be adequately protected from plutonium contamination.

Daryl Kimball, a spokesman for Physicians for Social Responsibility, which represents 30,000 physicians nationwide, said the letters from the two committees “indicate that DOE is nowhere near restarting the Rocky Flats plant in a safe and environmentally sound fashion.”

“The Cold War should end at Rocky Flats.”

In the reports written by EG&G; last spring, the plant operator acknowledged Building 559 was deteriorating and posed a safety hazard to workers.

One of the documents, a so-called Capital Asset Management Process plan, warns that if Building 559 resumed operation, “contamination control will become a serious issue, impacting safety and productivity” as well as posing safety hazards for employees.

It went on to say renovation of Building 559 is not a viable option, noting that the building is 23 years old and has been deteriorated by an acidic environment.

Deborah K. Smith, a spokeswoman for the DOE in Washington, D.C., said some of the safety problems cited in the documents have been fixed.