Air Force Plant Peter J. Kiewit and Sons (AFP PJKS, [3] AFP #79) [4] is a Formerly Used Defense Site (CO7570090038) at the Colorado Front Range and used during the Cold War (1957-1968) to provide "rocket assembly, engine testing, and research and development" [2] ) for the Titan missile complexes southeast of Denver (construction began April 1959). The 464 acres (188 ha) of former "Martin Missile Test Site 1" [5] was "deeded" to the USAF in 1957, was subsequently operated by the builder (Glenn L. Martin Company), was listed on the EPA's National Priorities List on November 21, 1989; and remained USAF property until transferred to Lockheed Martin in February 2001. [2] The site is used by, and entirely within, the secure Lockheed Martin/United Launch Alliance Waterton Canyon facility of 5,200 acres (2,100 ha) [2] that produces Titan IV launch vehicles and the GPS III space vehicles. Entirely within the East Fork Brush Creek watershed, [6] the former USAF firearms ranges used by PJKS military police remains along the creek, is managed by the Skyline Hunting and Fishing Club, [7] and is used for periodic Jefferson County police and local Boy Scout training.
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union with its satellite states, and the United States with its allies after World War II. A common historiography of the conflict begins with 1946, the year U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram" from Moscow cemented a U.S. foreign policy of containment of Soviet expansionism threatening strategically vital regions, and ending between the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1991 collapse of the USSR, which ended communism in Eastern Europe. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars.
The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the US and allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War. During the 1950s and 60s, the Martin Company moved from the aircraft industry into the guided missile, space exploration, and space utilization industries.
The National Priorities List (NPL) is the list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial action (cleanup) financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on the NPL. The NPL is intended primarily to guide EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation.
HGM-25A Titan I ICBMs were liquid-fueled rockets using LOX/RP-1 propellant which required the missiles to periodically be removed from the launch silos for servicing. Environmental sites at PJKS include 59 within six operable units (e.g., OU1, OU4, & OU6), and there are six areas of concern (12 of 14 underground tanks have been removed). Groundwater contaminants include trichloroethene (TCE), hydrazine, vinyl chloride, benzene, and nitrate. In fiscal year 1996, "technical work groups were formed with EPA, the State of Colorado, USGS, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to support RI site characterization and risk assessment." [8]
The Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I was the United States' first multistage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in use from 1959 until 1965. Though the SM-68A was operational for only three years, it spawned numerous follow-on models that were a part of the US arsenal and later, an important part of the US space launch capability. The SM-68 was unique among the Titan models in that it used liquid oxygen and RP-1 as propellants, while the later Titan ICBM versions all used storable propellants instead.
Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula N
2H
4, called diamidogen, archaically. A simple pnictogen hydride, it is a colorless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly toxic and dangerously unstable unless handled in solution as e.g., hydrazine hydrate. As of 2015, the world hydrazine hydrate market amounted to $350 million. Hydrazine is mainly used as a foaming agent in preparing polymer foams, but significant applications also include its uses as a precursor to polymerization catalysts, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals. About two million tons of hydrazine hydrate were used in foam blowing agents in 2015. Additionally, hydrazine is used in various rocket fuels and to prepare the gas precursors used in air bags. Hydrazine is used within both nuclear and conventional electrical power plant steam cycles as an oxygen scavenger to control concentrations of dissolved oxygen in an effort to reduce corrosion.
Vinyl chloride is an organochloride with the formula H2C=CHCl that is also called vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) or chloroethene. This colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC). About 13 billion kilograms are produced annually. VCM is among the top twenty largest petrochemicals (petroleum-derived chemicals) in world production. The United States currently remains the largest VCM manufacturing region because of its low-production-cost position in chlorine and ethylene raw materials. China is also a large manufacturer and one of the largest consumers of VCM. Vinyl chloride is a gas with a sweet odor. It is highly toxic, flammable, and carcinogenic. It can be formed in the environment when soil organisms break down chlorinated solvents. Vinyl chloride that is released by industries or formed by the breakdown of other chlorinated chemicals can enter the air and drinking water supplies. Vinyl chloride is a common contaminant found near landfills. In the past VCM has been used as a refrigerant.
