Weather data helping scientists better understand impact of '59 meltdown at SSFL
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

The recent discovery of historical weather information from the time of a partial nuclear meltdown at the former Santa Susana Field Laboratory may help clarify whether Simi Valley and other surrounding areas were affected by the release of radioactive materials.

In a Sept. 7 letter to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Thomas Gallacher, environmental director for Boeing Co., stated that personnel were unaware that the additional data existed when federal agencies first requested it for a site assessment in 1999.

Enclosed with the letter was a compact disc containing meteorological data from 1952 through 1963 that is related to the onsite Sodium Reactor Experiment- a nuclear reactor that suffered a partial meltdown in July 1959.

Jan Beyea, who conducted a state-funded study linking hundreds of cancer cases in surrounding areas to SSFL contamination, is hopeful the new information will "narrow the uncertainty" in regard to the range of radioactive release.

"If the wind was blowing toward Simi Valley when the accident occurred, of course that could raise more concern for the people in Simi Valley," he said.

But scientists, like Beyea, are still working to determine what that direction was.

"The winds in that area are extremely complex," Beyea said. "There are general patterns in which the wind blows up away from Simi Valley and down on the other side, but there's no simple explanation for the complex metereology."

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel released Beyea's fiveyear study to the public last year. The group of independent researchers and lab watchdogs received a $150,000 grant from the state Legislature to fund the study of the 2,850-acre former nuclear test site that sits in the hills just south of Simi Valley.

Beyea said he doesn't know for sure what the new information will reveal, but its release gives him "no choice but to redo the study," even though he doesn't expect to receive another grant.

"I wish they would have just given it to me before," he said. "That's the problem when you do these things. You have to just do it and eat the time."

Blythe Jameson, a Boeing spokesperson, said the company found the data during its ongoing review of more than 1.5 million historical records.

Boeing found it "prudent" to share the new information with ATSDR and the Department of Toxic Substances Control, she said.

"Over the years Boeing has provided immense amounts of data to various state and federal agencies, and we will continue to provide that data," Jameson said. "This new information does fill some data gaps, but the material does not really change our understanding of the incident."

Jameson said their interpretation of the data showed that no personnel employed at the site during the accident and during post-accident recovery exceeded the annual exposure limits for radiation workers.

She also said that Boeing "failed to detect environmental contamination" that would be of any risk to SSFL neighbors.

Dan Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a nonprofit nuclear policy organization, said it was "outrageous" to think that the data would not lead to any significant conclusions.

"In the absence of this data, analysts had to presume a wide range of possible weather conditions at the time of the meltdown," Hirsch said. "With the weather data, we can now determine which off-site areas were most likely to have been exposed."

Hirsch asserted that Boeing officials may have known all along the data existed but simply refused to provide it to federal authorities when it was requested.

"If they release this now, one can only guess at the information that they still have refused to disclose," Hirsch said.

But Jameson said Boeing released all relevant data as it became available.

"There's a large amount of data we are looking through on an ongoing basis," she said. "We are committed to working with the regulatory agencies and to the open and appropriate exchange of relevant information."