50th anniversary of nuclear accident in San Fernando Valley hills

July 12, 10:32 PMLA Headlines ExaminerTad Cronn

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the LA Headlines Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Today marks the 50th anniversary of what has been called the United States' first nuclear meltdown, in the Santa Susana Mountains that ring the west end of the San Fernando Valley.

In the evening of July 13, 1959, a nuclear reactor at the Atomics International field laboratory, now owned by Boeing and NASA, experienced a power surge and vented radioactive gases into the air.

Fifty years later, some local residents who were living in the area at the time have complained of cancers and other illnesses they blame on the 1959 event.

Federal regulators, former lab workers and other officials are expected to meet today at the Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education in Chatsworth to discuss recent developments about the site, which has still not been cleaned up. They will also talk about plans to spend $40 million in stimulus funds on a radiation survey of the site.