Epidemiologic Studies

Rocky Flats Fire Site

Job Authorization Records, 1956-1967

Location:

Active:
Inactive: DFRC

Originating Office: Facilities Engineering Group, Dow Chemical Company

Finding Aids: NARA Standard Form 135

Disposition Authority: DOE (1988) 14.2a(1)

Series Description: These records document the activities of the Facilities Engineering Group and include trip reports, blueprints, and design specifications for numerous processes and monitoring devices used at Rocky Flats. Of interest for the September 1957 fire are files found in job authorization number 350360 for FY 1965 work to enlarge the glovebox booster exhaust system number one for the laboratory areas in Building 71. Correspondence within this file discusses work needed to be done to remove materials contaminated during the 1957 fire. Mention is made of the fact that operators were required to wear supplied air suits while working in the plenum area. Also, the levels of contamination were apparently high enough to require the work to be done by Dow Chemical Company personnel, in keeping with Dow Health Physics Department recommendations.

Also of interest, in job authorization number 350386, are an American Blower Corporation Performance Data Sheet and drawings, dated July 20 and September 17, 1956, which provide information on the original industrial fans installed in Building 71. Drawings for the replacement fans (dated March 28, 1958) are also included.

In job authorization number 350710 is a letter dated March 12, 1965, from R.H. Miller, Chief Engineer, to M.J. Sunderland, Assistant Manager, Rocky Flats Area Office, which mentions the 1957 fire in a letter concerning the cleanup of Room 180. Miller stated that the cleanup was a "long and extensive process of clean and paint until the contamination level reached such a point that operations could be resumed." Another document, dated April 29, 1965, mentions that the gloveboxes and related equipment in use in Building 71 in 1965 were installed as original building equipment in 1953.

Data Elements: 85, 88-90, 102, 107, 117, 123