[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION, HEALTH: Rocketdyne (CA) meltdown 50 years later

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Marking the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. nuclear meltdown
A reactor in Chatsworth began leaking radioactive gas on July 14, 1959. 
Some area residents blame the facility for their health issues and say 
the site remains contaminated.

By Louis Sahagun
Los Angeles Times
July 13, 2009

On the morning of July 14, 1959, Sodium Reactor Experiment trainee John 
Pace received the bad news from a group of supervisors who had, he 
recalled, "terribly worried expressions on their faces."

A reactor at the Atomics International field laboratory in the Santa 
Susana Mountains had experienced a power surge the night before and 
spewed radioactive gases into the atmosphere.

"They were terrified that some of the gas had blown over their own San 
Fernando Valley homes," recalled Pace, who was 20 at the time. "My job 
was to keep radiation out of the control room."

Pace set to work sealing doors and windows with clear packing tape and 
scrubbing the walls with sanitary napkins soaked with special chemicals 
because, he said, "soap and water wouldn't do the trick."

Today, on the 50th anniversary of America's first nuclear meltdown 
accident, Pace will join federal regulators and former lab workers in a 
commemorative gathering at the Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education in 
Chatsworth.

....

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-meltdown13-2009jul13,0,1768338.story


--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org




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