Product Description
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that the Dow Chemical Company — as DOE (and predecessor AEC) prime operating contractor at the Rocky Flats Plant near Golden CO from 1952 through 1975, followed by Rockwell International through 1989 — allegedly specified, installed, and maintained asbestos-containing refractory board, asbestos-block furnace lagging, asbestos millboard glovebox liners, and asbestos-fabric heat shields on the plutonium metal foundry crucibles, casting furnaces, and pit machining line gloveboxes in Buildings 771, 776, 777, and 707. Asbestos gasket sets were allegedly used at glovebox furnace door and process piping flanged joints.
Plaintiffs alleged that Rocky Flats foundry asbestos-containing materials remained in service across the Dow and Rockwell eras — including through the 1957 and 1969 building fires and subsequent recovery work — until production shutdown in 1989, and again during the extensive D&D campaign that followed.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly exposed to Rocky Flats plutonium foundry asbestos-containing components include:
- Plutonium metallurgists on foundry casting and pit machining lines
- DOE contractor operators in Buildings 771 / 776 / 777 / 707 gloveboxes
- Nuclear weapons assemblers on pit component fabrication
- DOE facility maintenance mechanics on glovebox and furnace rebuilds
- DOE facility pipefitters on process piping and utilities
- Radiation control technicians and health physics staff on foundry floors
- Fire recovery crews after the 1957 and 1969 building fires
- Rocky Flats D&D crews on post-1989 building demolition