Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board
The Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board was founded in October 1993 and completed its work in June 2006.
Members on the Board were all volunteer community members interested in the cleanup and closure of the Rocky Flats site. Community interests represented on the Board included academia, Rocky Flats neighbors, businesses, Rocky Flats workers, local governments, environmental and peace groups, and technical specialists. A total of 83 persons served on the Board for varying amounts of time during its 13 years of operation.
The Board’s mission statement was as follows:
"The Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, a nonpartisan, broadly representative, independent advisory board with concerns related to Rocky Flats activities, is dedicated to providing informed recommendations and advice to the agencies (Department of Energy, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the Environmental Protection Agency), government entities, and other interested parties on policy and technical issues and decisions related to cleanup, waste management, and associated activities. The Board is dedicated to public involvement, awareness, and education on Rocky Flats issues.”
The Board was organized as a non-profit corporation and was funded entirely through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The Board also was part of the Environmental Management Site Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), a national organization of local advisory boards at other Department of Energy nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities across the country. The EM SSAB and each of the local advisory boards were official Federal Advisory Committees to the Department of Energy.
During its 13 years of operation, the Board forwarded 117 consensus recommendations to the Department of Energy and the regulatory agencies overseeing the cleanup at Rocky Flats. These recommendations ranged from broad policy statements to very specific comments on various cleanup proposals or plans for the Rocky Flats site. As noted in its mission statement, the Board also conducted an extensive public outreach and education program that included a website, a quarterly newsletter, a speaker’s bureau, numerous fact sheets, community workshops, and open public meetings.
A more thorough description of the Board’s operations, lessons learned, and recommendations for the future can be found by reading, Our Legacy Report to the Community, that was published to commemorate the Board’s closure in 2006.
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During its thirteen years of operation, the Board produced 117 consensus recommendations that were forwarded to the Department of Energy and the regulatory agencies.
··· 2006 ···
Recommendation on the Rocky Flats Proposed Plan
··· 2005 ···
Recommendation on the Original Landfill Interim Measure/Interim Remedial Action
Recommendation on the Groundwater Interim Measure/Interim Remedial Action Document
Comments on the Draft Rocky Flats Site-Wide Integrated Public Involvement Plan
Letter to Mike Owen Regarding the Development of a Local Stakeholder Organization for Rocky Flats
··· 2004 ···
Comments on the Rocky Flats Long-Term Stewardship Strategy
Comments on the 903 Pad Lip Area Interim Measure/Interim Remedial Action
Comments on the Draft Pond and Land Configuration Environmental Assessment
Support for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Position on Future Demarcation of DOE-Retained Lands
Comments on the Draft Rocky Flats Public Involvement Plan
Concerns About Water Quality at Rocky Flats
Recommendations on the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum
Comments on Draft Report to Congress: Rocky Flats Museum Options
··· 2003 ···
Comments on Draft RFCA Standard Operating Protocol for the Consolidated Water Treatment Facility
Letter on Long-Term Stewardship Considerations
Recommendation on the Present Landfill Interim Measure/Interim Remedial Action
··· 2002 ···
Recommendations on CERCLA Five Year Review
Comments, Concerns, and Recommendations on the Solar Evaporation Ponds Proposed Action Memorandum
··· 2001 ···
Application of the ALARA Principle to Soil Remediation at Rocky Flats
Comments on the RSOP for Soil and Asphalt Management
Comments on the RSOP for Environmental Restoration
Radionuclide Soil Action Levels
··· 2000 ···
Comments on Conceptual Model for Actinide Migration Studies
Comments on the Actinide Migration Evaluation Fiscal Year 2000 Activities
Public Participation in Decision Process for Closure Plan Assumptions
Proposed Future Land Use Legislation
Comments on the RFCA Standard Operating Protocol for Facility Disposition
··· 1999 ···
Comments on Environmental Assessment for Temporary Storage of Transuranic Waste
Comments on the Industrial Area Characterization and Remediation Strategy
Recommendations for Actinide Migration Evaluation Public Meetings
Comments on Contract Renewal Negotiations between the Department of Energy and Kaiser-Hill
A Vision for the Cleanup of Rocky Flats
··· 1998 ···
Building 779 Decommissioning Operations Plan
Improving Communication of Environmental Monitoring Information and Data at Rocky Flats
Comments on Rocky Flats Integrated Monitoring Plan
Request to Extend Comment Period on Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure Document
Follow-up to RFCAB Recommendation 97-2 Regarding a Review of Kaiser-Hill's Contract
Comments on Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure
RFCAB Role in Developing Improved Communication of Environmental Monitoring Data
Environmental Monitoring Program at Rocky Flats
Intersite Discussions on Nuclear Materials and Waste
Release of Revised Plutonium Inventories
Control of Radiological Sources
Comments on the Natural Resource Management Policy
Public Participation in Rocky Flats Budget Development
Retired Worker Medical Benefits
Materials Characterization and Storage Concerns
Future Use Stakeholder Involvement Process Plan
Funding for Retiree Medical Benefits
Draft Surplus Plutonium Disposition Environmental Impact Statement
··· 1997 ···
Rocky Flats Community Needs Assessment
Request for Assessment of Rocky Flats Performance-Based Contract
Independent Review of Rocky Flats Soil Action Levels
Extend Public Comment Period on T1 Trench PAM
Privatization of Functions at Rocky Flats
Rocky Flats Fiscal Year 1999 Budget
Containerized and Bulk CAMU Applications
Proposed Action Memorandum for the T1 Trench
Highly Enriched Uranium Vulnerabilities
NRC Standards and Rocky Flats Cleanup
Transportation of Radioactive Waste Through Colorado
Rocky Flats Safeguards and Security Issues
Rocky Flats Safeguards and Security Issues
··· 1996 ···
Rocky Flats Draft Conceptual Vision
Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement - followup to #95-12
Rocky Flats Area Emergency Public Assistance and Health Referral Center
Preliminary Comments on Accelerated Site Action Project
Waste Management Programmatic Impact Statement
Rocky Flats Fiscal Year 1998 Budget
Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement
Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement / Vision
Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials PEIS
Rocky Flats Retired and Disabled Workers Medical Benefits
CDPHE Community Air Monitoring Proposal
Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement
Cleanup Principles and Critical Reporting Elements
Delay Setting Final Soil Action Levels
Additional Comments and Recommendations on Soil Action Levels
Rocky Flats Water Quality Standards
Additional Recommendations on Soil Action Levels: Institutional Controls
··· 1995 ···
Oppose Release of Buffer Zone Land
Adoption of Summit I Priorities
Shift Environmental Restoration Funding to High Risk Activities
Increase Rocky Flats Budget to allow for B371 Contingency Fund
Endorse Future Site Use Working Group Recommendations
"Plutonium at Rocky Flats - A Framework for Decision-Making”
Site Technology Coordination Group - outside stakeholder involvement
Interim End State Proposal - public involvement
Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement - six outstanding issues
Use of Site-Wide Environmental Strategy Agreement as Basis for Negotiations
Waste Management: Storage and Disposal at Rocky Flats
Site Technology Coordination Group - lack of progress and involvement
Consolidation and Storage of Plutonium at Rocky Flats
··· 1994 ···
National Conversion Pilot Project - Proceed to Stage II
Prepare Environmental Assessment for Liquid Plutonium Stabilization
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The Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board published a quarterly newsletter, The Advisor, beginning in the Winter of 1995 and continuing until the Spring of 2003.
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Over the years, the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory sponsored several community workshops on specific topics of interest to the community.
Stakeholder Workshop on Soil Action Levels, April 27-28, 2001 (32 pages, PDF file)
Community Workshop on Surface Water, May 30, 2002 (4 pages, PDF file)
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Through the years the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board was involved in special projects that were important to the local community. The results of two of those projects – the review of soil cleanup levels and the site’s environmental monitoring program – are available below.
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RADIONUCLIDE SOIL ACTION LEVELS
OVERSIGHT PANEL (RSALOP)The RSALOP was formed in 1998 to allow local community members to conduct their own independent assessment of the soil cleanup levels to be used at Rocky Flats. The Department of Energy provided funding to the RSALOP to hire their own contractor to conduct the assessment. The Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board served as the contract manager for the project. Project files from the RSALOP assessment can be accessed through the links below.
Final Report Executive Summary
··· Complete Project Reports: ···
Final Report: Technical Project Summary (February 2000)
Task 1: Cleanup Levels at Other Sites (April 1999)
Task 2: Computer Models (July 1999)
Task 3: Inputs and Assumptions (October 1999)
Task 5: Independent Calculation of Soil Action Levels (February 2000)
Task 6: Sampling Protocols (December 1999)
Appendix D: Interaction with Actinide Migration Evaluation Group (February 2000)
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ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AT AND AROUND ROCKY FLATS
Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board hired an independent contractor during 1997 to review the Rocky Flats environmental monitoring program. The final report can be accessed by clicking on the links below: