Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change: A Third Edition

THE ROCKY FLATS STORY

The Rocky Flats Nuclear Arsenal was a top-secret nuclear weapons production facility, opened in 1951 just sixteen miles northwest of downtown Denver, Colorado. During its heyday, Rocky Flats played a key role in the U.S. cold war strategy. Beginning in the late 1960s, however, the work at Rocky Flats generated increasing worry among officials in other government agencies and in the general public. Questions were fueled by the secretive nature of the work, several industrial accidents, and the antagonistic relationships between the managing contractors and the workforce on site. These and other concerns culminated in a 1989 FBI raid that froze production activities across the site. No production work was allowed, and ...