Rocky Flats Plant

The Rocky Flats Plant, a former U.S. nuclear weapons production facility located about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Denver, caused radioactive (primarily plutonium, americium, and uranium) contamination within and outside its boundaries. The contamination primarily resulted from two major plutonium fires in 1957 and 1969 (plutonium is pyrophoric, and shavings can spontaneously combust) and from wind-blown plutonium that leaked from barrels of radioactive waste. Much lower concentrations of radioactive isotopes were released throughout the operational life of the plant from 1952 to 1992, from smaller accidents and from normal operational releases of plutonium particles too small to be filtered. Prevailing winds from the plant carried airborne contamination south and east, into populated areas northwest of Denver. The contamination of the Denver area by plutonium from the fires and other sources was not publicly reported until the 1970s. According to a 1972 study coauthored by Edward Martell, "In the more densely populated areas of Denver, the Pu contamination level in surface soils is several times fallout", and the plutonium contamination "just east of the Rocky Flats plant ranges up to hundreds of times that from nuclear tests." As noted by Carl Johnson in Ambio, "Exposures of a large population in the Denver area to plutonium and other radionuclides in the exhaust plumes from the plant date back to 1953."Weapons production at the plant was halted after a combined FBI and EPA raid in 1989 and years of protests. The plant has since been shut down, with its buildings demolished and completely removed from the site. The Rocky Flats Plant was declared a Superfund site in 1989 and began its transformation to a cleanup site in February 1992. Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nearly all underground contamination was left in place, and measurable radioactive environmental contamination in and around Rocky Flats will probably persist for thousands of years. The land formerly occupied by the plant is now the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Plans to make this refuge accessible for recreation have been repeatedly delayed due to lack of funding and protested by citizen organizations.The Department of Energy continues to fund monitoring of the site, but private groups and researchers remain concerned about the extent and long-term public health consequences of the contamination. Estimates of the public health risk caused by the contamination vary significantly, with accusations that the United States government is being too secretive and that citizen activists are being alarmist.

The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is 5,237-acre (21.19 km2) National Wildlife Refuge in the United States, located approximately 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Denver, Colorado. The refuge is situated west of the cities of Broomfield and Westminster and situated north of the city of Arvada.

Plastic is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. It is 8 miles north of Golden and 11 miles south of Boulder. No known post office has operated in Plastic itself. It is served by the Moffat Tunnel Division of the Union Pacific Railroad. An unused Union Pacific branch extends across Plastic, and into what was formerly the Rocky Flats Plant. During this period, the area was alternatively known as Plastic Siding.

Leyden, Colorado, elevation 5,656 feet (1,724 m) is a small unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Colorado west of Arvada at the junction of West 82nd Avenue and Quaker Street. It is a historic company town established by the Leyden Coal Company in 1902 to house the miners of the Leyden Coal Mine nearby to the west.

Ralston Valley High School (RVHS or RV) is a comprehensive, four-year public high school in Arvada, a northwest suburb of Denver, Colorado. Opened in 2000, its enrollment is around 1800 students. Ralston Valley High School is an eight-time recipient of an "Excellent" rating by the Colorado Department of Education.

Ralston Dam (National ID # CO00205) is a dam in Jefferson County, Colorado. The earthen dam was constructed in 1937 by the Denver Board Of Water Commissioners, with a height of 204 feet, and a length of 1170 feet at its crest. It impounds Ralston Creek for municipal water supply for the city of Denver. The dam is owned and operated by the Denver Board Of Water Commissioners. The reservoir it creates, Ralston Reservoir, has a normal water surface of 160 acres, has a maximum capacity of 15,900 acre-feet, and a normal capacity of 13,200 acre-feet. In 2010 officials discovered that the defunct Schwartzwalder uranium mine was contaminating groundwater near the reservoir, threatening the Denver water supply with concentrations of uranium some 1000 times the human health standard. The owners of the mine, Cotter Corp., rerouted the Ralston Creek around the mine site after uranium levels of between 40 and 50 parts per billion were discovered in the creek, greater than the 30 ppb federal drinking water standard. Cotter hopes the rerouting will be temporary while it cleans the contaminated mine using bioremediation.

Superior is a statutory town in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, with a small, uninhabited segment of land area extending into Jefferson County. According to the 2020 census, the population of the city was 13,094.

Marshall is an unincorporated community in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. It is to the northwest of Superior.

Arvada () is a home rule municipality on the border between Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States Census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 in Adams County. Arvada is the seventh most populous city in Colorado. The city is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor. The Olde Town Arvada historic district is 7 miles (11 km) northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.

Eldorado Springs is an unincorporated community, a census-designated place (CDP), and a post office located in and governed by Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Eldorado Springs post office has the ZIP code 80025 (post office boxes). At the United States Census 2010, the population of the Eldorado Springs CDP was 585, while the population of the 80025 ZIP Code Tabulation Area was 253.The nearby Eldorado Canyon State Park is famous for its classic North-American climbing routes.

FlatIron Crossing is an enclosed shopping center in Broomfield, Colorado, anchored by Macy's, Dillard's, and Dick's Sporting Goods. An outdoor lifestyle center, named FlatIron Village; extends out of the mall's southern side and is anchored by a 14-screen AMC Theatres cinema and several restaurants. Others stores at the mall include 2nd & Charles, Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, H&M, and Old Navy.

Standley Lake is a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) reservoir located in Westminster, Colorado. While originally constructed to provide water for the agricultural irrigation of the surrounding region northwest of Denver, it now serves primarily as the municipal water supply for the cities of Westminster, Northglenn, and Thornton. The lake is also used for recreation, and is the prominent feature of the surrounding 3,000-acre (12 km2) Standley Lake Regional Park. The reservoir has a maximum capacity of approximately 42,000 acre-feet (52,000,000 m3) and maximum depth of 96 feet (29 m). Most of the reservoir's water is transported over 16 miles (26 km) from Clear Creek to the south by way of the Church Ditch, Farmer's Highline Canal and Croke Canal. It also receives water from Coal Creek by way of the Kinnear Ditch and from Woman Creek.The lake is owned by the Farmers Reservoir and Irrigation Company (FRICO) while the surrounding park and the recreational use of the lake are managed by the City of Westminster.