Rockwell Ordered to Report Radioactive Spills, Leaks at Lab

An administrative judge for the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ordered Rockwell International to report all leaks and spills of radioactive material that have occurred in the past 20 years at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory west of Chatsworth.

Judge Peter Bloch said he had “concerns and questions” that weren’t addressed in a list of pollution episodes filed by Rockwell. The list was made in response to a prior order by Bloch, who is considering Rockwell’s application for renewal of a special nuclear materials license.

Filed Sept. 29 at a public hearing in Van Nuys, Rockwell’s list included chemical leaks and spills, most of them minor, at Santa Susana during the past two decades--but no incidents involving radioactive substances.

In an accompanying affidavit, Robert T. Lancet, director of nuclear safety and licensing for Rockwell’s Rocketdyne Division, said Bloch had requested details of incidents “producing anything other than trivial results. . . .”

“All inadvertent releases of radioactive material were well below . . . allowable limits . . . and consequently none are listed,” Lancet said.

Radiation releases were conspicuous by their absence from the list, because radioactive pollution has been found at low levels in soil and water from a monitoring well at a portion of Santa Susana devoted to nuclear research. Most of the 2,668-acre complex in the Simi Hills southeast of Simi Valley has been reserved for rocket testing for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Air Force.

In the latest order released Thursday, Bloch gave Rockwell a month to report on “events that occurred during the past 20 years, involving releases of radioactive materials . . . regardless of whether or not” any limits were exceeded.

Rockwell officials declined comment, saying they were studying the order.

In a related development Thursday, an NRC appeals panel ordered Bloch to explain why he has asked certain questions of Rockwell, including the questions about pollution episodes and off-site emergency plans.

According to Bloch, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeals Board--which considers appeals of license decisions--asked if “I should be this active at this stage of the proceeding” or “be more patient in letting the case develop by itself.”

Bloch called the order “very unusual” and said he has never received such an order in more than seven years as an NRC law judge. But he added that he is not concerned.

He said he was certain the appeals board order was not prompted by complaints from Rockwell or other outside parties. The three-judge appeals panel is “doing the job the best way they know how, and I’m doing my job the best way I know how, and they want me to explain that,” he said.

A Rockwell spokesman said late Thursday that company officials had not complained about Bloch’s orders. Appeals board officials could not be reached.

Rockwell is requesting a 10-year extension of the license covering Santa Susana’s “hot lab,” where nuclear materials are handled by remote control in heavily shielded rooms. The hot lab’s major business has been decladding nuclear fuel for the U. S. Department of Energy--work that involves removing plutonium and uranium from spent fuel rods and shipping it to government reservations for use in making atomic weapons and fuel for naval ships.

Rockwell last decladded fuel in 1986 and has no present contracts for such work.

Bloch’s decision on the license-renewal request is not expected before next summer.

At the conclusion of the Sept. 29 hearing, he granted intervener status to three local opponents of Rockwell and said he would consider requests from several other would-be interveners, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental group.

Interveners may file written evidence that Bloch must take into account in his licensing decision.