The real story about the people who ran the Rocky Flats nuclear munitions plant is a complex tale about contractors trying their best in difficult circumstances.
That’s what a lawyer defending plant operators in a class-action lawsuit presented to jurors Wednesday in federal court.
David Bernick, who represents Dow Chemical and Rockwell International, devoted much of his opening statement to picking apart assertions made by lawyers for the 12,000 property owners near the plant who are suing the companies. They contend their land was contaminated by Rocky Flats plutonium.
“Have they told you the full story?” Bernick asked as he made a case that they had not.
The neighbors, who are pursuing the largest environmental class-action lawsuit in Colorado history, are seeking $500 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Armed with a body microphone and a multimedia arsenal of exhibits, Bernick took issue with dozens of statements made by plaintiffs’ lawyers during their opening arguments.
He brought up a 1957 fire at the plant and plaintiffs’ claims that operators covered up the seriousness of the blaze and the resulting plutonium release. Bernick said Dow officials accurately reported the information they had at the time. Bernick showed jurors how internal reports made shortly after the fire were consistent with news releases.
He also explained how the fire occurred: Plant workers were trying a new design at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy and were working with a far more combustible form of plutonium, which touched off the fire.
“There is a full story behind every one of these things,” Bernick said. “They are not simple. There are not easy answers.”
He also played down the plutonium risks that plaintiffs have claimed, saying they were minute. The chances of getting cancer from Rocky Flats radiation exposure, Bernick said, were less than one in a million.
“That’s a risk?” he asked. “That’s what we’re here about?”
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or acaldwell@denverpost.com.
