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1. US Cancer Secret: 1959 Simi Valley Nuclear Accident From: Steven
Kaasgaard
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1. US Cancer Secret: 1959 Simi Valley Nuclear Accident
Posted by: "Steven Kaasgaard" lets23skidoo@... lets23skidoo
Sat Oct 7, 2006 5:44 pm (PST)
Dear editor:

Hey exGreenpeacer turned Pro NUKE, RE: Saturday, October 7, 2006.,Patrick
Moore writes "Right to invest in nuclear energy"


Not so fast.
Here are some secrets leaking out via the FOI ACT revealing previously
unknown nuclear errors right here in North America.

Kinda hard to Splain why they would be hiding this kind of information eh?
Especially while there is an ongoing campaign to churn out more nuclear
plants all around the planet and when by all accounts these monsters have
been just what anti nuclear activists portrayed them as; unsafe,
unaffordable and unreliable as a source of energy for any civilization
facing the end of oil Re: End of suburbia.

sincerely;

Lets Say No to Nuclear Power!
and Yes to the alternative energys and intensive conservation practices.


steven kaasgaard
53 corby cres
brampton,ontario
(905) 459 2070

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rocketdyne6oct06,0,125472.story?coll=la-\
home-headlines

US Cancer Secret: 1959 Simi Valley Nuclear Accident

The nuclear meltdown, which remained virtually unknown to the public
until 1979, could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer
"over a period of [not that "many"] decades," the study concluded.

...A team of UCLA graduate students obtained documents through the
Freedom of Information Act detailing the meltdown. The disclosure
resulted in a number of environmental studies that found widespread
radioactive and chemical contamination at the lab..
But the advisory panel that oversaw the five-year study, conducted by
an independent team of scientists and health experts, said it could
not offer more specifics about potential exposure to carcinogens
because the Department of Energy and Rocketdyne's owner, Boeing Co.,
did not provide key information.
Critics chided Boeing officials Thursday for failing to provide
information for the new study. "The pattern of secrecy and
misrepresentation that began at the time of the accident continues to
this day, where sloppy practices are done under a cover of darkness,"
said Dan Hirsch, a physicist and co-chairman of the advisory panel.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Study Says Lab Meltdown Caused Cancer
Scientists say details about the 1959 accident near Simi Valley
continue to be withheld. Other contamination at the site is much
clearer.
Radioactive emissions from a 1959 nuclear accident at a research lab
near Simi Valley appear to have been much greater than previously
suspected and could have resulted in hundreds of cancers in
surrounding communities, according to a study released Thursday.
Chemical contamination from rocket engine testing at the site
continues to threaten soil and groundwater in the area around
Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the study also found.
The nuclear meltdown, which remained virtually unknown to the public
until 1979, could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer
"over a period of [not that "many"] decades," the study concluded.
But the advisory panel that oversaw the five-year study, conducted by
an independent team of scientists and health experts, said it could
not offer more specifics about potential exposure to carcinogens
because the Department of Energy and Rocketdyne's owner, Boeing Co.,
did not provide key information.
"This lack of candor...makes characterization of the potential health
impacts of past accidents and releases extremely difficult," the panel
concluded.
Boeing officials vigorously disputed the findings, saying the study
was based on miscalculations and faulty information.
"We disagree entirely with the report's conclusion," said Phil
Rutherford, a health, safety and radiation manager for the company. He
cited a Boeing-commissioned study released last year that found
overall cancer deaths among employees at the field lab and at Canoga
Park facilities between 1949 and 1999 were lower than in the general
population.
The Boeing report contradicted findings from an earlier UCLA study
that found elevated cancer deaths among workers exposed to high levels
of radiation.
Critics chided Boeing officials Thursday for failing to provide
information for the new study.
"The pattern of secrecy and misrepresentation that began at the time
of the accident continues to this day, where sloppy practices are done
under a cover of darkness," said Dan Hirsch, a physicist and
co-chairman of the advisory panel.
The lab was opened on a craggy plateau in easternmost Ventura County
in 1948 as the nearby San Fernando and Simi valleys were on the cusp
of a postwar population boom. Originally operated by North American
Rockwell, it conducted nuclear research for the federal government for
more than four decades before ceasing those operations in the late
1980s. It has also been the site of more than 30,000 rocket engine
tests, the thunderous explosions serving as a Cold War-era
hallmark for nearby residents.
The 2,850-acre site has been the source of much controversy since the
nuclear accident was first widely publicized in 1979. A team of UCLA
graduate students obtained documents through the Freedom of
Information Act detailing the meltdown.
The disclosure resulted in a number of environmental studies that
found widespread radioactive and chemical contamination at the lab. In
turn, several investigations into the potential impact on the health
of lab workers and area residents were triggered.
The advisory panel was created by local legislators in the early 1990s
to oversee some of the studies. Its new report specifically focuses on
how the lab's operations, which included decades of rocket engine
testing, may have affected the health of people in nearby communities.
The study, paid with federal funding, asserted that the rocket engine
tests had caused chemical contamination of water and soil in nearby
areas in recent years and "may indicate pathways for other
contaminants."
Among the scientists' other key findings:
* As much as 30% of the most worrisome
compounds associated with nuclear testing at the lab, iodine-131 and
cesium-137, may have been released into the air. But Boeing's
utherford said data from the site's own airborn monitoring system
refustes taht claim [oh really? then what percent insteaad of 30%?
they don't even bother telling us what the "correct" number is if the
30% is too unfair...!]
...* For years, IN VIOLATION OF RESTRICTIONS PROHIBITING SUCH ACTIVITY,
radioactive and chemically contaminated components were disposed of at
an open-air sodium burn pit at the field lab, polluting soil and
groundwater.
* Perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, migrated off the lab site,
toward populated areas, IN SURFACE WATER RUNOFF. Other contaminants
may have spread off site in this manner as well, the report said.
The report also disclosed little-known information about lab
operations: It was home to 10 nuclear reactors and numerous low-power
reactors, plutonium and uranium carbide fabrication plants and a "hot
lab" used for remotely cutting up irradiated nuclear fuel shipped in
from other federal nuclear plants.
[suprised? do you think the federal government doesn't
omit certain "details" about the labs they say they want to do A, B,
and C, when the labs secretly also do X, Y, and Z in
secret from the public? -ED]
About 150 people attended a public meeting Thursday night to discuss
the report's findings. Many of those in the audience are residents or
former residents of the area surrounding the field lab.
They said they appreciated the findings and hoped the report would
spur regulators to force a thorough cleanup of the site.
Marjorie Weems, who lives on property adjoining the site, said her
daughter, Priscilla, 34, had to have part of her thyroid removed 13
years ago and worries about a possible connection to the lab's
operations.
"It's been such a coverup for so many years," said Weems, 62, whose
husband, now retired, worked at the lab. "They lied and lied and lied
and said there was no contamination. But now we know that's not true."
At the time of the 1959 nuclear accident, little information appeared
in the media. Lab officials released a statement saying "no release of
radioactive materials to the plant or its environs occurred, and
operating personnel were not exposed to harmful conditions."
The advisory panel overseeing the most recent study accused the lab's
operators of maintaining a pattern of deception and secrecy ever
since.
For instance, it said researchers discovered that a meteorological
station was atop the nuclear reactor on July 13, 1959, when fuel rods
ruptured and partially melted, emitting radioactive gases into the
plant and the atmosphere.
When the researchers requested the station's weather data to try to
determine how far radioactive gases may have traveled from the hilltop
lab, Boeing officials refused, asserting that the information was
"proprietary -- a trade secret," the panelists said in the report.
"How can you possibly declare a trade secret which way the wind blew
on a certain day?" Hirsch said.
Boeing officials said they do not recall any specific requests for
weather data, adding that such information might not even exist. [umm,
yeah, sure, whatever, let's use two different excuses Boeing, nice
job.. -ED]
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rocketdyne6oct06,0,125472.sto...
= = = =
STILL FEELING LIKE THE MAINSTREAM U.S. CORPORATE MEDIA
IS GIVING A FULL HONEST PICTURE OF WHAT'S GOING ON?
= = = =
= = = =
Sorry, we cannot read/reply to most usenet posts but welcome email
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