Colorado: "Deal Reached Between Homeowners, Weapons Plant Operators"

"DENVER — Thousands of homeowners have reached a $375 million settlement over their claims that plutonium releases from a nuclear weapons plant in Colorado damaged their health and devalued their property, officials said Thursday.

A federal judge must approve the agreement before it officially ends the 26-year legal battle between the residents and two corporations that ran the Rocky Flats plant for the federal government.

Perched on a wind-swept mesa west of Denver, Rocky Flats manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads until it closed in 1989 because of safety and environmental concerns. It's the most prominent of Colorado's Cold War relics, which also included a nerve gas manufacturing site east of Denver."

Dan Elliott reports for the Associated Press May 19, 2016.