NEW action responding to the half-century+ radioactive and toxic legacy of the #SantaSusanaFieldLab.

NO #radioactive materials to unlicensed facilities! ☢️

#SSFL #CleanItUp #EnvironmentalJustice

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/new-concerns-with-santa-susana-field-lab-cleanup/3138568/

Why Is the #SantaSusana #Nuclear Accident Still Being Covered Up?

Excavating Six Decades of Buried Secrecy, Neglect, and Flat-Out Lies in the #SanFernando Valley

By Warren Olney, January 13, 2022

"The Field Lab (#SSFL) opened in 1947, at the onset of the Cold War, and the reactor accident happened in 1959. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and a nuclear contractor kept it secret for 20 years, but there was no denying the evidence we revealed on local TV, discovered in AEC archives by the watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap.

"Today, that accident is still news, as Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to be backing away from enforcing a cleanup of nuclear contamination that remains on the site. Sixty-three years since the accident, Santa Susana should remind us of the perils not only of nuclear materials but also of our short memories. This story’s hardest lesson is that when dangerous secrets get buried you often have to keep excavating them, over and over.

"Over the years, #residential development moved closer to the Field Lab, but no one ever told the public about the release of radioactive contamination which would remain dangerous for thousands of years. In 1989, a local newspaper reported on secret government studies showing extensive contamination at the site. That drew attention from unsuspecting homeowners, and a community group called the Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition sprang up to oppose re-licensing of site facilities. Nuclear operations at Santa Susana finally halted in 1990."

Read more: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2022/01/13/santa-susana-nuclear-accident/ideas/essay/

In The Valley of the Dark

A Documentary from 2021:
A group of mothers discovers that the Santa Susana Field Laboratory was the site of one of the most significant nuclear accidents in United States history and may have exposed their children and their community to cancer-causing hazardous waste.

"In 1959, an unconfined partial meltdown of a sodium reactor at the #SantaSusanaFieldLab caused such a devastating radiation leak, that many consider it to be the worst #nuclear disaster in U.S. history. Studies have shown that the radiation released at #SSFL was 260 times greater than the radiation released at Three Mile Island.

"Located just 30 miles from Downtown, #LosAngeles, the meltdown was concealed from the public eye for 20 years before being uncovered and the contamination never fully eradicated. The partial meltdown unveiled decades of negligence and unsafe handling of extremely #toxic #radioactive and #chemical materials.

"The affected community has demanded a full cleanup of the area for decades, but they’re receiving pushback from the sites #corporate and government landowners, as these juggernauts and their persuasive #lobbyists have successfully stalled any hope of a cleanup. Until Recently."

#NoNukes #NoWar #DOE #Boeing #CoverUp

https://www.inthedarkofthevalley.com/story

Brandeis-Bardin Groundwater Toxins Hit Historic Highs

by Michael Collins, August 10, 2022

#SantaSusanaFieldLab #radiation and #chemicals plague popular Jewish camp as Los Angeles Water Board prepares to end #SSFL surface water testing

"Cesium-137, radium-226, arsenic and mercury" found in "ever-increasing concentrations". Many have hiked in the nearby canyons, "where these readings were found the well-water."

#Rocketdyne #NoNukes #NoWar #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #Pollution #WaterIsLife #California #MeierCanyon #Boeing #DOE

https://www.enviroreporter.com/2022/08/brandeis-bardin-groundwater-toxins-hit-historic-highs/

And, "[T]here have been instances in recent years when safety standards for elements and compounds like iron, dioxin, lead and manganese have been exceeded. But those occurred largely during the first rain events following the Topanga and Woolsey fires. During drought years, he said, results rarely exceeded safety limits." They admitted in the public meeting that they cannot deal with heavy rainfall. So... they are relying on drought. #SSFL

Watch this powerful new documentary which examines a partial nuclear meltdown in the Simi Hills back in 1959, and the toxic coverup which continues to this day. Parents of children with rare cancers continue fighting against the corporate and government collusion. @PSRLA@twitter.com #SSFL 🎥

Boeing’s campaign donations to @GavinNewsom@twitter.com shouldn’t let them sell out the #SSFL cleanup. Don’t let @DTSC@twitter.com enter secret negotiations with #Boeing to break out of their cleanup obligations. #BoeingBoughtNewsom #PeopleNotPolluters #Newsom

.@GavinNewsom@twitter.com keep CalEPA’s promises to the #SSFL community. Enforce the legally binding DTSC cleanup agreements at SSFL. Don’t let Boeing negotiate out of their obligations just because they donated thousands to your campaign! #BoeingBoughtNewsom #PeopleNotPolluters #Newsom

.@GavinNewsom@twitter.com The quality of our drinking water is not up for #SecretNegotiations with Boeing! @DTSC@twitter.com must uphold and enforce the SSFL clean up agreements and get the #SSFL groundwater cleaned up. #BoeingBoughtNewsom #PeopleNotPolluters #Newsom

According to @PARENTSvsSSFL@twitter.com, despite years of promises @CaliforniaEPA@twitter.com is planning secret meetings with @Boeing@twitter.com to gut the cleanup of one of CA’s most toxic sites, the Santa Susana Field Lab. #BoeingBoughtNewsom #PeopleNotPolluters #SSFL

Melissa Bumstead, Oct. 3, 2018, speaks before delivering petition demanding SSFL cleanup to now Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom’s campaign headquarters in Los Angeles.
• Activists say Gov.-elect Newsom is key to a full cleanup of SSFL.
–Michael Collins, EnviroReporter
#WoolseyFire #SSFL

"A 2005 fire burned 75% of Rocketdyne, illustrating that these recurring infernos will continue to release SSFL radiation and chemical contamination every time it catches fire, further contaminating the environment and exposing huge numbers of people and animals." –Collins
#SSFL

"Testing SSFL Area IV plants for phytoremediation potential also utilizing control plant specimens." –Michael Collins, EnviroReporter
#WoolseyFire #SSFL

2014 Department of Energy illustration of how SSFL plants suck up radiation and chemicals.
#WoolseyFire #DOE #NASA #Boeing #SSFL #SimiValley #SFV

• DTSC has these reports and knows full well about the possibility of radiation and chemicals in SSFL’s vegetation, yet still told the public the smoke was harmless.
• Toxic ash may impact properties not torched by the fire but in the fire’s impact zone.
–Michael Collins
#SSFL

"Area I Burn Pits were in 2018 Rocketdyne fire path."
–Michael Collins, EnviroReporter
#WoolseyFire #Rocketdyne #SSFL #VenturaCounty

"Fire swept through Area I Burn Pit with high levels of 17 radionuclides and the most deadly form of dioxin, 2,3,7,8-TCDD, at 2,684.4 times its normal background."
–Michael Collins, EnviroReporter
#WoolseyFire #SSFL #VenturaCounty #LosAngeles

"Department of Energy (DOE) reports from 2014 document the high levels of chlorinated dioxins/furans, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), silver, cadmium and lead in its vegetation."
–Michael Collins, EnviroReporter
#WoolseyFire #SSFL #VenturaCounty #LosAngeles

"At least 84 percent of SSFL burned launching approximately 43,272 tons of radioactive and chemically-impacted ash and smoke into the air."
–Michael Collins, EnviroReporter
#WoolseyFire #SSFL #VenturaCounty #LosAngeles

"DTSC and NASA misled the public about the fire’s potential consequences. EnviroReporter has also uncovered what may have been the cause of the massive blaze, how much Rocketdyne brush was incinerated, what was in that brush and where most of it landed." –Michael Collins
#SSFL