Judge won't bar public from refuge that was once a nuke site

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request to bar the public from a Colorado wildlife refuge that was once part of a nuclear weapons plant.

Environmentalists and community activists had asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction that would prohibit opening Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Denver while the courts hear their lawsuit claiming the government did not study public safety closely enough.

U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer said the activists had not shown that radioactive exposure at the site was bad enough to cause them irreparable harm, s...