European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes thursday october 10, 1991 2 say nuclear Plant forced them to quit for making Waves Westminster Colo. A two workers at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons Plant say their Homes were shot at and they were forced to quit because they talked to the Fri about on the Job health and safety problems. One of the women said she was deliberately contaminated with radioactive waste because of her Campaign to Dean up safety problems at the Plant. She said a co worker told her a a a that a what you get for making  a Plant operator leg and a inc. Said tuesday that it is investigating the women s complaints. The two women said monday that they plan to file a lawsuit soon against those responsible including Rockwell International and leg and a inc., the contractors that operated Rocky Flats for the department of Energy while the women worked there. Leg and a has operated the Plant since january i990. A for years these women did the most hazardous work in the nuclear weapons Industry hands on processing of deadly plutonium in the underground cells of the a hot Side of Rocky Flats a said Hartley Alley their attorney. A they were Unsung heroes. Now they Are victims of sabotage intentional exposure to excessive radiation attacks upon their Homes and  Jacqueline m. Brever 34, a former chemical operator for plutonium operations at the Plant said of the Plant s management a the message 1 think they re trying to Send to their employees is a shut up Quot Karen a. Pitts 35, who worked with Brever says their Case is similar to that of Karen Silkwood. The Oklahoma nuclear Plant worker was harassed and died mysteriously while trying to prove her company was covering up unsafe operating procedures in handling nuclear materials. The women said they were forced to resign in april 1991 after supervisors ordered them to return to their jobs in radioactive areas of the Plant. Plant officials admitted in August that the women were harassed but said there is nothing they can do now to help them. A i would say they be been harassed a Robert Nelson in charge of Doe operations at the Plant said after he interviewed the women. A i mean certainly if 1 were in their shoes and All those things happened to me. Id be pretty  leg and a said the company is aware of the women s allegations. A leg and a will not permit or condone harassment of any Type in the workplace. Moreover in general we continue to encourage employees with safety concerns to come Forward through our joint company Union safety committee a an leg and a statement said. Rocky rats is the Only . Plant that makes the cores for atomic bombs. The government suspended the plants plutonium operations in december 1989 following repeated safety violations and problems. Tie Plant also was the target of a june 6, 1989, Fri raid my is no castigating leg axons of Slegal Quot whistle Blower Jacqueline m. Brever displays a rental sign Ini front disposal of hazardous and toxic wastes. Colo., Home she a leaving because of vandalism and harassment of the Westminster destruction of nuclear arms raises new problem their deadly residues i. I., win Washington apr when president Bush ordered the destruction of most land and sea based tactical nuclear warheads he left unanswered a troubling question what will become of the deadly materials in those obsolete weapons the Short answer is that some of the material can be used to Luel naval nuclear reactors aboard ships and submarines. Others will sit under lock and key awaiting the Day when the government finds a permanent burial ground. The Issue of disposing of nuclear bomb materials Drew Little attention As both superpowers were competing to build bigger and better nuclear arsenals. Materials taken from old weapons were routinely recycled and used in new ones. But today there is Little if any need for surplus plutonium or highly enriched uranium the main chemical compounds used in modern nuclear weapons. The cold War is Over and so Loo in some re specs is nuclear arms Competition. For the moment weapons Are being eliminated faster than new ones Are being fielded. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney explaining Bush s disarmament plan announced last month said America already has a a Large inventory of plutonium a highly toxic Man made element discovered in 1940 and used in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan in 1945. Official figures on the size of the plutonium stockpile Are highly classified. Robert Norris a nuclear arms specialist at the private natural resources defense Council estimated it at 100 tons including that in deployed warheads. Plutonium can be deadly to. Humans in microscopic amounts and it has a Hall life of 24,000 years a the length of time required for its radiation to be reduced by half. So it can to just be thrown out with the trash. The other main ingredient in nuclear warheads is highly enriched uranium a radioactive material that s in such abundance that . Production was halted in 1964. Norris estimated its stockpile at 500 tons. Plutonium and uranium fuel the Chain reactions that give nuclear bombs their enormous Power. One bomb typically contains about 10 pounds of plutonium 239 and about 50 pounds of uranium-235, although the actual amounts vary by bomb Type. It s not Clear what use the administration might make of the growing surplus of nuclear materials. Cheney said some of the highly enriched uranium would be used As fuel for the Small nuclear reactors that Power the Navy a submarines and aircraft carriers. He suggested the plutonium would be processed into a More stable form and simply kept locked away. Little is publicly known about the soviet Union s capacity for handling the nuclear materials it will recover from the thousands of tactical weapons president Mikhail s. Gorbachev said last week would be destroyed. William Arkin a leading private specialist on nuclear weapons said it probably would be Many months if not years before the United states finally disposes of All 3,00 1 of the warheads Bush said weren t needed. A my guess is that these things will stack up likes planes at Kennedy Airport a he  sorry for fake news that Bush died Dallas apr a Junior High school principal wont be disciplined for authorizing a bogus announcement that president Bush had been assassinated. A no one is Hurt More than she is and there is nothing 1 could do to punish her More than what she is feeling a said . A buddy Davis superintendent for the suburban Carrollton Farmers Branch school District. Principal Lora Folsom on Friday let an assistant make the announcement Over the loudspeakers at Charles m. Blalack Junior High school As a learning experience. Students had been studying the 1938 War of the worlds broadcast. About 50 students some in tears walked out in protest after learning in a second announcement four minutes later that the report was false. The superintendent said Folsom apologized to students and  initiation targets Whites on Campus Champaign ill. A g Angs of Young Black men have been randomly attacking Lone whiles on the University of Illinois Campus As Pai l of an initiation ritual police said 1 tuesday. The de Hood gang in Champaign and the Dawes in adjoining Urbana were responsible for nine attacks last month said Deputy police chief Donald Carter said. None of the victims required extensive medical care but at least one person was knocked unconscious. The assaults were earned out by Large groups of people Ages 15 to 23. The gangs search for a a Polar bears a a White person a and a see if they can punch them nut Quot As part of their initiation. Carter said. So Lar increased police patrols in the past three weeks have resulted in 15 arrests. Some for juvenile Curlew violations. Police have identified More than 40 people who fit the gangs profiles Cirle said. A a it a Only a matter of time before someone brings a weapon to the area an we have a tragedy Quot he said. An Urbana assistant police chief rus Brown said the attacks Are new to Ini area but the world a is moving in onus