Full Body Burden Book Analysis

Kelly Jennings

BMGT 2347

April 23, 2014

Kristen Iversen's portrayal of Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in "Full Body Burden,” published in 2013 by Random House, is as terrifying as any horror film on the market.  It is possible her story is even more terrifying because her story is true.  

Iversen’s story is based on her life growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, which held a secret nuclear weapons plant building over 70,000 plutonium triggers in an effort to help with the Cold War.  Starting with a great fire on Mother’s Day in 1969, the cover up and lies accumulated over the years could make even those who don’t believe conspiracy theories stop and wonder “what if?”  What if our government could really toss all these lies our way?

In her own home, Iversen had to deal with lies and cover-ups too.  Her father hid liquor bottles around the house while her mother looked the other way and never spoke about the issues that eventually split their family.  Siblings stayed quiet until their teen years when they became a part of protests and attempts to run away from home.  Iverson’s retelling of the secrets within her own home and those in her community show we never really know what goes on behind closed doors.

Iverson writes her book more like investigative journalism with bits and pieces of her childhood weaved throughout to help offer relief from the horrible reality of our government’s lies.  We see as the story progresses how events that happened in her life, or didn’t happen, end up having a huge impact on her and her family.  The family couldn’t have their own well because of the hard ground around their home.  Because of this, they avoided much of the water contamination the rest of the community experienced.  However, while they avoided the water, they played in the lakes, sandboxes, meadows, and ate produce and poultry raised on nearby farms; thus possibly leading to some of their own cancer diagnosis’.

        In her investigations, Iverson uncovers whistleblowers and many cancer victims of the effects of Rocky Flats.  Full Body Burden refers to "the amount of radioactive material present in a human body, which acts as an internal and ongoing source of radiation."  The government insisted for years the amount of contamination was acceptable and not harmful to the habitants or wildlife.  In a 1970 nonprofit report, a University of Colorado biochemist said the plutonium deposits in the soil outside Rocky Flats were “the highest ever measured near an urban area, including the city of Nagasaki.”

        The secrecy around this story is not only the fault of the government, but also the people in the community and the Rocky Flats workforce.  Nobody spoke of health issues for years. Nobody complained about wildlife or farm animal’s health issues. Many animals lost the ability to reproduce and hardly anyone said a word.  “Anyone who criticized Rocky Flats, or even spoke of it, was ridiculed or ignored,” Iverson says.  Iverson herself chose to ignore the protestors that later came to town and thought they were a bunch of hippies with nothing else to do with their time.   Many people in the neighborhood spent years believing since Dow Chemical was involved in the day-to-day operations they were only making cleaning materials at the plant.  Did they really know the truth, and just chose to look the other way in order to keep their nice cars and new suburban homes?