A cartoonish, oversized footprint marks the spot on the dusty old radiation detector where Rocky Flats workers once placed their feet to measure any plutonium that might be lingering in their bodies.
It’s a relic and does nothing more today than gather dust inside a dank cargo container stuffed with hundreds of artifacts from the former nuclear bomb plant.
“If you worked at Rocky Flats back in the day, you would certainly be familiar with this,” said Don Rohlf, a former worker now in charge of collections for a planned Rocky Flats museum.
The radiation detection device and other Rocky Flats artifacts – glove boxes used to handle dangerous materials, protection suits and chemical kits – may not, however, find a home anytime soon.
Rohlf and other board members of the planned Rocky Flats Cold War Museum have had great difficulty raising the $4 million to $5 million needed to purchase and renovate a building near the former plant site.
They say that if sufficient funds can’t be found by late next year, plans for a stand-alone museum likely will be abandoned.
“If we don’t secure funding in the six- or seven-digit figures by the end of 2006, it will be very difficult to go forward,” said Bryan Taylor, the museum board’s past president.
There has been a $150,000 donation from Kaiser-Hill Co., the plant’s cleanup contractor.
Taylor and other board members believe that the plant’s scandal-tainted past may be thwarting efforts to raise money.
Other World War II-era facilities – such as the Nevada Test Site and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico – have had far less trouble raising funds for museums, Taylor said.
“Certain facilities that were built after the Manhattan Project era are really falling through the gaps,” said Taylor, a University of Colorado associate professor.
“This is the era of anti-war protests and increasing concerns about nuclear waste,” he said. “Their histories are not as simple and glorious as those of World War II.”
Board members say they have been disappointed that the U.S. Department of Energy, which owns the former plant, hasn’t given any donations, nor has any of its major operators.
In a draft feasibility study completed in 2004, the Office of Legacy Management, a DOE offshoot that will take possession of the site in coming months, said the museum should not count on federal funds.
“That’s been very disconcerting because the federal government will continue to maintain its presence at the site for years to come,” said Kim Grant, the board’s president.
Grant said that if money can’t be raised to purchase a building, the board might consider sharing exhibit space at an existing museum or arts facility.
In the meantime, Rohlf will continue to collect and store artifacts for a future exhibit – sometime, somewhere.
“Our fundraising situation is a lot like a teenager’s first job,” he said. “They go in for an interview and the first thing the employer says is, ‘I can’t give you a job without experience.’ Well, apparently, we need to raise some funds before we can raise some funds.”
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
