Radioactive Traces Found in Rockwell Ground Water : Discovery Comes After Months of Denials by Firm
Rockwell International said Friday that low-level radioactive pollution had been discovered in ground water at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory, after months of repeated statements that no such pollution had been found.
Rockwell said the discovery does not pose a health hazard, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concurred.
But the finding is likely to increase pressure on Rockwell and the U.S. Department of Energy to expand environmental monitoring at the lab west of Chatsworth and to agree to closer review by health and environmental agencies.
The company disclosed that a water sample taken from a test well on the laboratory site in July by EPA officials contained a low level of tritium, a form of radioactive hydrogen.
Monitoring Well
Rockwell officials said the tritium, in a concentration of 1,890 picocuries per liter, was contained in water from a monitoring well near Santa Susana’s Building 59, which formerly housed experimental nuclear reactors. The firm said a sample from an old disposal area known as the sodium burn pit tested negative for tritium.
The company contrasted the tritium level in the test well with state and federal standards limiting tritium to 3 million picocuries per liter of water. Even drinking water may contain up to 20,000 picocuries of tritium per liter under state and federal drinking water standards.
Ground water beneath the field laboratory is not used for drinking.
The “finding by the EPA again confirms that levels of radiation detected” at Santa Susana “are minor and pose no threat to our employees or to our neighbors,” Rockwell said in a prepared statement.
Still, the discovery appeared to support arguments by the EPA--and even by Santa Susana’s customer, the DOE--that monitoring at the site has been inadequate to fully track environmental conditions there.
Just last week, it was disclosed in an internal EPA memo that an agency radiation expert found many flaws in Rockwell’s radiation testing methods. Among other things, he questioned why Rockwell, in years of testing ground water for radioactivity, had never looked for tritium, which moves through soil more readily than other radioactive substances and is thus a good indicator of potential ground-water pollution.
‘Rather Surprised’
The EPA official, Gregg Dempsey, told The Times last week that he was “rather surprised” to learn during his visit to Santa Susana in July that Rockwell did not have a device required to test for tritium. It was during that July visit that Dempsey, who was part of an EPA inspection team, took soil and water samples.
Rockwell officials said Friday that the tritium finding was disclosed by the EPA to DOE officials in San Francisco, who passed on the information to the company late Thursday.
Bob Tuttle, manager of radiation and nuclear safety for Rockwell’s Rocketdyne Division, which operates the lab, acknowledged that ground-water tests by the company over the years “were not sensitive to tritium” and would not detect it. But he said the low tritium level found “extremely close” to a reactor site showed such tests were not needed. The discovery “is perfectly consistent with our expectations,” he said.
Still, Rockwell officials said they will test for tritium in 18 new ground-water monitoring wells they are installing at the request of state water quality officials.
Rockwell’s announcement jumped the gun on a full disclosure of the test data by EPA. Even after the disclosure, the EPA said the data was not ready for release.
The EPA’s Dempsey could not be reached for comment Friday. Shelly Rosenblum, an environmental engineer with the EPA’s air toxics and radiation programs office in San Francisco, confirmed the tritium reading disclosed by Rockwell. But he said he was awaiting a “full interpretation” of the other data.
EPA and Rockwell officials are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the data and possible improvements in radiation testing at Santa Susana.
Set on a boulder-strewn mesa in the Simi Hills, the 2,668-acre Santa Susana lab has been mainly used for rocket testing for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Air Force. But 290 acres of the site have been devoted to research for the DOE and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, including nuclear work with applications to energy and weapons production.
From the mid-1950s to the early 1980s, 16 small nuclear reactors were operated there. The company also maintains a heavily shielded “hot cell” that it used in recycling intensely radioactive nuclear fuel--work temporarily halted after DOE contracts ran out in 1986.
Most nuclear work at the laboratory in recent years has involved cleaning up after the discontinued projects.
Under Siege
Rockwell, a $12-billion-a-year aerospace, electronics and automotive concern, has been under siege locally by neighbors and the news media since disclosure in May of a DOE report on chemical and radioactive contamination at Santa Susana. The report--based almost entirely on data provided by Rockwell--described pollution at the site as moderate and as posing no immediate threat to people nearby. But it called for better testing--and particularly for more extensive monitoring of ground water on and off the site.
Some neighborhood and anti-nuclear groups, including the local chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, are opposing renewal of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license under which Santa Susana’s hot cell operates. The firm is seeking to renew the license for 10 years, in hopes of landing future fuel recycling contracts. The license expired in June but has continued in effect while the NRC considers the renewal application.
NRC officials Friday disclosed that the administrative law judge considering the relicensing request will hold an informal hearing on Sept. 28 at a local site to be selected later.
In a written order, the law judge, Peter Bloch, said statements will be limited to five to 10 minutes, depending on how many people wish to appear. The following morning, Bloch said, he will hear oral arguments from people or groups seeking to become full parties in the licensing case. Those granted this status will have the right to present written arguments in the case.
