New Warning Signs Are Going Up at Colorado’s Former Nuclear Weapons Site

For forty years, between 1952 and 1992, Rocky Flats Plant near the Denver suburb of Arvada, Colorado, was a complex that manufactured nuclear weapons parts and specialized in creating plutonium pits, an element that has historically been used to create atomic bombs.

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This type of atomic bomb production has long been shut down, notably after a raid from the FBI in 1989, and today, Rocky Flats serves as a wildlife refuge.

However, because of complaints from nearby residents, as well as the fact that the area has become a controversial destination for hikers in recent years, new warning signs are set to be erected at the site.

New Warning Signs Coming to Colorado’s Rocky Flats

Rocky Flats has been a subject of controversy in Colorado for many years, and although a $7 billion cleanup project was conducted in 2005, complaints by locals of the area have prompted new signs to be erected at the site.

The signs will be bright yellow and will contain the headlines, “The Rocky Flats Plant leaded plutonium and hazardous materials onto the land and into the water,” “After years of hazardous waste removal, Rocky Flats was designated as a wildlife refuge,” and “Hikers, Bikers, and Equestrians are encouraged to make informed decisions before entering the refuge.”

These headlines will be accompanied by paragraphs further explaining the warnings on the signs, all of which you can read in full here.

Rocky Flats is not the only wildlife refuge in the area, as it is neighbored by the nearby Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge.

Read More: Western Colorado has a History of Unsuccessful Nuclear Bomb Tests

Check out the full story as well as the exact verbiage that will appear on the new signs here.