{"id":28289,"date":"2018-11-13T10:58:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T14:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=28289"},"modified":"2018-11-13T10:58:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T14:58:26","slug":"partial-nuclear-meltdown-site-at-santa-susana-hit-by-ca-firestorm-physicians-fear-release-of-incredibly-dangerous-radionuclides-and-toxic-chemicals-and-heavy-metals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=28289","title":{"rendered":"Partial nuclear meltdown site at Santa Susana hit by CA firestorm, Physicians fear release of  &#8220;incredibly dangerous radionuclides and toxic chemicals and heavy metals&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><a href=\"http:\/\/themillenniumreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/66d748d6-5270-4615-b966-4e7bd30fc7ba-DSC01793.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-70802\" src=\"http:\/\/themillenniumreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/66d748d6-5270-4615-b966-4e7bd30fc7ba-DSC01793.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Activists fear Woolsey Fire may have released toxic materials at Santa Susana Field Lab<\/h2>\n<p>Mike Harris, Ventura County Star<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-RVBjfBGh6nk\" class=\"story-asset story-metadata-asset\">\n<div class=\"article-metadata-wrap\">\n<section id=\"module-position-RVBjfAlqMGI\" class=\"storymetadata-bucket expandable-photo-module story-expandable-photo-module\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo expandable-collapsed\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"expand-img-horiz aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2018\/11\/12\/PVCS\/dbbb3c59-5b84-4039-b6d9-08c7bba99070-Santa_Susana_Pic.JPG?width=534&amp;height=401&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Santa Susana Pic\" data-mycapture-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2018\/11\/12\/PVCS\/dbbb3c59-5b84-4039-b6d9-08c7bba99070-Santa_Susana_Pic.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2018\/11\/12\/PVCS\/dbbb3c59-5b84-4039-b6d9-08c7bba99070-Santa_Susana_Pic.JPG?width=500&amp;height=375\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"image-credit-wrap\"><span class=\"js-caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"credit\">(Photo: STAR FILE PHOTO)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boeing.com\/principles\/environment\/santa-susana\/index.page\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">Santa Susana Field Laboratory<\/a>\u00a0cleanup activists fear that hazardous materials may have been released when the Woolsey\u00a0Fire burned a portion of the contaminated site last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The California\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dtsc.ca.gov\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">Department of Toxic Substances Control<\/a>, which is overseeing the long-planned cleanup of the field lab, site of a 1959 partial nuclear meltdown when it was the Rocketdyne\/Atomics International rocket engine test and nuclear facility,\u00a0says it doesn&#8217;t believe any contaminants that pose a risk to people were released. The site\u00a0also experienced other\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/local\/communities\/simi-valley\/2018\/08\/21\/simi-valley-santa-susana-field-lab-cleanup-delayed-again-nuclear-meltdown\/978261002\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">chemical and radioactive contamination<\/a>\u00a0over the years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The fire, which started Thursday afternoon near the 2,850-acre field lab in unincorporated hills just southeast of Simi Valley, burned a portion of the site later that day, the state agency said in a news release Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;It is no longer burning within the SSFL site and is moving away from the site,&#8221; the release stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;Our scientists and toxicologists have reviewed information about the fire&#8217;s location and do not believe the fire has caused any releases of hazardous materials that would pose a risk to people exposed to the smoke,&#8221; the agency said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Cleanup activists have their doubts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;We can&#8217;t trust anything that DTSC says,&#8221; one such activist, Melissa Bumstead, said in the activists&#8217; own news release.\u00a0&#8220;DTSC repeatedly minimizes risk from SSFL and has broken every promise it ever made about the SSFL cleanup. The public has no confidence in this troubled agency.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Robert Dodge, president of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.psr-la.org\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles<\/a>, shares Bumstead&#8217;s concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cWe know what substances are on the site and how hazardous they are,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We\u2019re talking about incredibly dangerous radionuclides and toxic chemicals &#8230; and heavy metals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;These toxic materials are in SSFL\u2019s soil and vegetation, and when it burns and becomes airborne in smoke and ash, there is a real possibility of heightened exposure for area residents,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">A third activist,\u00a0Marie Mason, of Simi Valley, and co-founder of the Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition, said in a second statement that the fire\u00a0&#8220;may have resulted in even more toxic exposures. We\u2019ve always worried about a fire at SSFL. SSFL could have and should have been cleaned up a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2\">Activists call for independent agency to test field lab<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Bumstead said cleanup activists want independent experts, not the toxic substances control department, to determine if the fire caused any contaminants to be released at the field lab.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;We want an independent agency to do the radioactive and air monitoring near the site,&#8221; said Bumstead, who lives in West Hills, which neighbors the site in\u00a0Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Bumstead said she&#8217;s spoken with the South Coast Air Quality Management District.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;They said only the federal Environmental Protection Agency had the capacity to do the monitoring,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">An EPA spokesperson on Monday would only say that she believed the toxic substances control department remained the lead agency for monitoring the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Bumstead said State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, said at a community meeting Sunday night that &#8220;he agreed that an independent agency needed to look into whether the fire caused hazardous materials\u00a0to be released at the field lab.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The community meeting was held at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, a section of Los Angeles not far from Simi Valley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">As of Monday morning, the\u00a0Woolsey Fire had spread to\u00a091,572 acres, killed two civilians and destroyed 370 structures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Most of the Santa Susana site is now owned by aerospace giant Boeing and is divided into four areas with northern and southern buffer zones.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing is responsible for cleaning up Area 3, its part of Area 1 and the Southern Buffer Zone.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Energy does not own any land at the site but is responsible for the cleanup of Area 4 and the Northern Buffer Zone.<\/p>\n<p>NASA administers a smaller portion of the site and is responsible for remediating Area 2 and its part of Area 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">It&#8217;s not clear when the much-delayed cleanup will begin.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-body-p-last\" class=\"p-text p-text-last\">The toxic substances control department\u00a0said in August it didn&#8217;t know when it would release its &#8220;decision document,&#8221; which will detail the agency&#8217;s cleanup plan for the site.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/local\/communities\/simi-valley\/2018\/11\/12\/woolsey-fire-may-have-released-toxins-santa-susana-field-laboratory\/1976845002\/\">http:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/local\/communities\/simi-valley\/2018\/11\/12\/woolsey-fire-may-have-released-toxins-santa-susana-field-laboratory\/1976845002\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}