ROCKY FLATS NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITIES
Long time client relationships have been a hallmark of Pixel Kitchen. Case in point is the cleanup of Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facilities. In 1997 Pixel Kitchen was contracted to create a film with animated 3D graphics for a proposal to the Federal Government by Kaiser-Hill. This was to clean up and remove when possible, any surface or sub-surface structures and pollution on the site of the closed facilities to specific standards. The story of the necessity for the cleanup is unique, complex and interesting in relationship to the history of the cold war. Even the FBI closing of the plant in the late 80's was controversial due to operators unlawful activities with the disposal of radioactive materials. The Feds had estimated the cleanup at 40 years and $100s of billions of dollars. In order to achieve their goals of cleanup, a unique partnership of companies had to be formed with the Federal Government. Pixel Kitchen began a relationship with the KH partnership to visualize the cleanup using 2D & 3D techniques through the conversion of CAD data, aerial photography matching, and illustration and animation in both 2 & 3D. Our most recent work was to create litigation graphics and animation video for the “Cook VS Rockwell” class action suite. This was a suite filed in part because of a radiation release due to a Building 71 structure fire in 1957. Our responsibilities were to research building plans, lots of plans and model several buildings including structure, HVAC, plumbing, glove box and manufacturing equipment, radioactivity filtering systems, and incinerators. We were then called upon to do forensic analysis of the after fire photos and locate the photographer's position in relationship to the equipment and rectify that with our 3D model. 3D illustrations and animations including maps of fire and smoke migration as well as cloud propagation were then created as. The images illustrate a controversal incinerator as well as a lathe enclosed in a glove box next to the alleged origin of fire. Pixel Kitchen, Inc. helped to dismantle and bring an end to one of the most polluted places on the planet then returned to recreate the recently closed facilities, virtually in 3D to illustrate some of the plant operations. |
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