Katz Angry at Release of Radiation Study

Outraged over the release of a radiation exposure report to Rocketdyne, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) has written to the state Department of Health Services demanding an explanation.

Katz’s letter to Dr. Robert Harrison also demands that Harrison send him a copy of the draft report on a five-year UCLA study of radiation exposure among 5,000 past and present Rocketdyne employees.

Rocketdyne ran several experimental nuclear reactors for the Department of Energy in the 1950s, one of which partly melted down in 1959.

The tests were conducted at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory, southeast of Simi Valley.

Copies of the first draft by UCLA researchers were supposed to be released only to experts and citizens on an oversight panel for review and comments, Katz has said.

But Harrison’s decision to release a copy to Rocketdyne last month could allow Rocketdyne to influence the way the final report is written and thus soften any damage to the company’s image, he said last week.

“Your actions undermine the oversight panel’s responsibility to ensure that an unbiased report of radioactive and chemical contamination at the site would be issued,” Katz wrote.

“Even more outrageous is your decision to send copies of the draft report to Rockwell and NOT the appointed governmental oversight panel! . . . Your ‘You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ actions have severely [compromised] the panel’s study and your credibility.”

Harrison was on vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

But last week, he defended his release of the report.

Rocketdyne was always meant to get a draft copy and a chance to comment on the report, Harrison said, because it had provided thousands of worker health records and other assistance to the UCLA study team.