FATAL EXPLOSION AT ROCKETDYNE : Public Fears, Government Controls Put Pressure on Lab : History: Rockwell’s division played a major role in the development of U.S. rocket program since late ‘40s.

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, rocked Tuesday by an explosion that killed two workers and seriously injured a third, has long been devoted to harnessing powerful forces, but apparently never with more gruesome results.

Set on a rugged plateau in the Simi Hills amid weirdly beautiful rock formations, the nearly 2,700-acre test site, owned by Rockwell International’s Rocketdyne division, has played a storied role in the development of U.S. rocketry since the late 1940s.

But in recent years, the lab, known within Rocketdyne as “Santa Sue,” has been the object of public fears and government fines for environmental pollution--scrutiny that may increase after Tuesday’s disaster.

The site, where 742 workers are now employed, was first used in 1947 by North American Aviation, Rocketdyne’s predecessor, to dismantle and analyze the engine of the German V-2 rocket that had terrorized England during World War II.

As Rocketdyne emerged as the country’s main builder of rocket engines, Santa Susana was used to test engines for virtually every U.S. rocket program--including those that powered the first manned flight to the moon and those that carry nuclear warheads.

Wernher von Braun and other German rocket scientists became regular visitors to the site, according to company officials. With its backdrop of sandstone and sage, the site also was used to film Westerns and other feature films.

The space shuttle’s main engines--built less than a half-hour away at Rocketdyne’s Canoga Avenue plant--formerly were tested at Santa Susana but now are tested at a site in Mississippi. Current work includes testing of Atlas and Delta rocket engines that propel communications satellites into space.

Although largely devoted to rocket work for such customers as the Air Force and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, nearly 300 acres of the facility has been reserved for research and development projects for the U.S. Department of Energy. Currently, the company operates the DOE’s Energy Technology Research Center there.

From the 1950s through 1980s, the energy work included the operation of small nuclear test reactors and recycling of highly contaminated spent fuel from nuclear fuel rods. Although it was not widely publicized until 20 years later, a test reactor suffered a partial meltdown in 1959. The company later said there was no danger to the public or workers.

Public disclosure in 1989 of lingering, low-level contamination from past nuclear projects sparked a public furor and prompted Rocketdyne to halt nuclear research there the following year.

With heightened public awareness of the once-remote site has come tougher government regulation.

In the energy research area of the site, the Department of Energy is funding a multimillion-dollar cleanup of buildings, soil and ground water tainted by chemical and radioactive contamination.

And in the rocket testing area, Rocketdyne is engaged in a multiyear cleanup of ground water contaminated with chemical solvents that were used to rinse rocket engines.

Without admitting liability, Rocketdyne during the 1980s and early ‘90s paid workers’ compensation settlements to at least eight former employees who alleged they had suffered radiation-induced cancer. With funding from DOE, a team of UCLA researchers is studying whether energy research workers have suffered unusual rates of disease from radiation or chemical exposure.

Environmental lapses at Santa Susana also figured in two large settlements paid by Rockwell to resolve state hazardous waste complaints.

In December, 1992, Rockwell agreed to a $650,000 settlement involving 46 alleged violations at Santa Susana and at plant sites in Palmdale and El Segundo. And in November, 1990, the company agreed to pay $280,000 to resolve a hazardous waste complaint involving Santa Susana and its Canoga Avenue plant.

The complaints did not charge the company with pollution per se, but with failure to comply with waste storage, record-keeping and reporting requirements.

Rocketdyne officials said they were unaware of any fatal accidents at Santa Susana prior to Tuesday’s explosion, but were still checking records. They said the blast, which blew apart a 10-by-12-foot test stand, did not affect other buildings or operations at the site.

Staff writer Patrice Apodaca contributed to this story