Santa Susana Waste Removal Begins
Trucks on Monday began moving 14,000 tons of hazardous waste from Boeing’s Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Chatsworth to a dump in Kern County, despite some protests.
The work of removing soil that was chemically contaminated by past owners of the onetime Santa Susana sodium disposal facility will go on for three to five months, Rocketdyne spokesman Dan Beck said.
“We’re delivering the hazardous soil to the appropriate facility and taking it out of this community,” Beck said.
A handful of protesters outside the plant Monday said they were glad the dirt is being removed, but disapprove of where it is being taken.
“They’re taking it to an unlicensed facility,” said Lorraine Scott of Encino. “They need to take it to a facility licensed in toxic waste.”
Boeing and California Department of Health officials said the waste is not radioactive or toxic, as the protesters claim.
“No landfill in California is licensed to take toxic waste,” said Leah Brooks, spokeswoman for the Department of Health.
“That waste is not radioactive, it is hazardous.”
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