I did a number of different things there but my primary responsibility was in the testing and manufacture of high temperature superconductors. The press was made of stainless steel and then hardened to roughly Rockwell 47, then refinished. I also tested samples provided by outside sources. My first research involved setup and maintenance of a Hewlett-Packard gas chromatograph. The chromatograph was used to determine amounts of halogenated hydrocarbons, particularly bromoform, in arctic tropospheric air samples.
Bromoform is known to destroy ozone in the troposphere.
I was in charge of the analysis of roughly 250 samples taken in the spring of 1989. The goal was to determine if the chlorinated solvents used in processing were polluting the air to unacceptable levels. Over 29 million pounds of chlorinated solvents were used each year when the plant was active. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, Rocky Flats was closed down shortly before the project began so the results were probably not consistent with those that would have been found during active processing. In May of 1990 I received another UROP grant to study natural sources for brominated gases in the arctic atmosphere and their role in ozone destruction.