Rockwell Faces U.S. Charges in Lab Deaths

Federal prosecutors are preparing to file felony charges against Rockwell International over the 1994 chemical blast that killed two scientists at the firm’s Santa Susana Field Lab, sources have told The Times.

Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter, who is leading the investigation, declined to comment on the case, as did Gary Auer, agent in charge of the FBI’s Ventura County office.

But sources close to the investigation said this week that Rockwell’s Canoga Park-based Rocketdyne division is negotiating with U.S. prosecutors to settle the charges without trial by admitting guilt and paying fines for the July 26, 1994, explosion deaths of physicists Otto K. Heiney and Larry A. Pugh.

Also, the sources said, U.S. Justice Department officials will continue to show a federal grand jury evidence that could bring additional civil and criminal indictments against Rocketdyne officials who oversaw the Santa Susana Field Laboratory where the men died.

Rocketdyne declined to comment Friday.

“The only thing I can give you is a one-sentence statement from the company,” said Paul Sewell, a Rocketdyne spokesman. “We’re cooperating fully with this investigation, and we believe the process will best be served by our not discussing it while it’s ongoing.”

Said one source close to the investigation: “They’re negotiating the case against the company because the only thing they can get from the company is money. [Then] they’re going to go after the individuals.”

So far, Rockwell has forbidden employees targeted by the investigation to talk with the FBI, the source said.

Heiney and Pugh were killed when the highly explosive nitrocellulose and glycidal azide polymer they were working with blew up in their faces. The chemicals are used in making solid rocket propellant.

After the accident, Rocketdyne President Paul Smith said the two were igniting highly explosive chemicals and measuring the blast waves as part of a legitimate experiment at Rocketdyne’s rugged field lab midway between Simi Valley and the Canoga Park headquarters.

But Cal/OSHA investigators said in a report that the two appeared to be burning the chemicals to get rid of them, not running valid tests.

And an investigative source confirmed that the explosion experiments were nothing more than “bucket tests,” company slang for tests of no real scientific value designed merely to get rid of hazardous waste.

Cal/OSHA fined Rocketdyne $202,500 for violating work-safety laws, and for failing to notify the agency where and when the explosives were being used. The company has appealed the citations.

Last July, about 20 federal agents from the FBI, NASA, EPA and the U.S. departments of Defense, Energy, Air Force and Navy raided Rocketdyne’s headquarters and field lab, seizing environmental records relating to the lab’s operations.

Sources close to the case have said it centers around apparent violations of environmental and work-safety laws, and also on whether Rocketdyne defrauded the U.S. government of millions of dollars over the past several years by simply burning hazardous waste that it was paid to dispose of properly.

The multitude of agencies investigating the accident reflects the depth and breadth of Rocketdyne’s contract work for the U.S. government and the military.

Engineers at the field lab have developed rocket engines for early nuclear missiles and every U.S. manned space mission--from Mercury to the space shuttle. But the lab has also experimented broadly with alternate energy sources--everything from 1950s-era tests on nuclear power sources to current-day power generation involving coal, steam and ammonia.

The company’s contract and environmental record has been far from spotless:

* For years, Rocketdyne had legally burned chemical wastes to get rid of them. But that ended in 1989 when Cal/OSHA and the federal EPA issued a ban on open burning.

Rockwell, however, continued the practice into 1990, which led to a state complaint and--in 1992--a $650,000 settlement against the company for 46 alleged violations at the field lab and Rockwell sites in Palmdale and El Segundo.

* The company pleaded guilty to five felonies and five misdemeanors and agreed to pay a record $18.5 million in fines in 1992 for illegally disposing of nuclear waste at its weapons plant in Rocky Flats, just outside Denver.

* Rockwell agreed to pay a $42,000 penalty to the U.S. Department of Transportation for shipping an excessively radioactive container by truck from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory the year before.

* Rockwell pleaded guilty and was fined $5.5 million in 1989 for overcharging and defrauding the government on the NAVSTAR satellite navigational system made at its Seal Beach headquarters.