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A review by rebecca2023
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen
4.0
"God in heaven, what have we done?" was my response to the book. Not for the feint of heart.
The residents around Rocky Flats spend decades pretending that the plutonium processing plant in the vicinity really just makes cleaning solutions, "scrubbing bubbles." The truth is too terrifying. Plus, the pay at the plant is good. You can even earn fifteen extra cents an hour for working in the "hot zone". When Iverson visits a doctor as an adult and wonders if her health condition could be connected to the radiation exposure she experienced in her neighborhood growing up, the doctor tells her that "you can't worry about that." The issue of nuclear waste and contamination of the environment is so overwhelming that many people really would like to turn a blind eye. We have created a situation that will persist for thousands, if not millions of years.
Iverson examines the decades of environmental catastrophe around Rocky Flats from myriad perspectives. The most riveting to me was her own memoir, which is intertwined with the larger corporate and governmental story. We also learn the story of the head of the operation, who earned millions of dollars of year while polluting the environment beyond repair. We learn a bit about the activists who protested at the site, and a lawyer who devoted his life to the cause of bringing justice to the residents of Rocky Flats. Iverson also provides us with insights into the lives of the people who worked at the plant, a large majority who developed devastating illnesses.
Iverson herself spent much of her life adhering to the culture of a code of silence. Now, with this meticulously researched book, she no longer turns away from the reality of the environmental devastation at Rocky Flats, and neither can we.
The residents around Rocky Flats spend decades pretending that the plutonium processing plant in the vicinity really just makes cleaning solutions, "scrubbing bubbles." The truth is too terrifying. Plus, the pay at the plant is good. You can even earn fifteen extra cents an hour for working in the "hot zone". When Iverson visits a doctor as an adult and wonders if her health condition could be connected to the radiation exposure she experienced in her neighborhood growing up, the doctor tells her that "you can't worry about that." The issue of nuclear waste and contamination of the environment is so overwhelming that many people really would like to turn a blind eye. We have created a situation that will persist for thousands, if not millions of years.
Iverson examines the decades of environmental catastrophe around Rocky Flats from myriad perspectives. The most riveting to me was her own memoir, which is intertwined with the larger corporate and governmental story. We also learn the story of the head of the operation, who earned millions of dollars of year while polluting the environment beyond repair. We learn a bit about the activists who protested at the site, and a lawyer who devoted his life to the cause of bringing justice to the residents of Rocky Flats. Iverson also provides us with insights into the lives of the people who worked at the plant, a large majority who developed devastating illnesses.
Iverson herself spent much of her life adhering to the culture of a code of silence. Now, with this meticulously researched book, she no longer turns away from the reality of the environmental devastation at Rocky Flats, and neither can we.