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Igniters found near the Field Lab
Testing is being done on soil where items were unearthed
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More from Local NewsThe more contractors tasked with removing debris linked to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory from a public park, the more they seem to find.
The most recent discovery, made on Aug. 28, was 58 igniters found buried one to three feet beneath the surface of a portion of Sage Ranch Park, once used as a skeet shooting range by employees of the former nuclear and rocket test engine site.
Before that, contractors stumbled upon 960 cubic yards of industrial debris, including industrial glass, piping, forks and spoons in early August at the 625-acre park on the Ventura-Los Angeles County line.
That unexpected find was made as workers removed lead shot and clay pigeon fragment from the former Rocketdyne-Atomics International Rifle and Pistol Club Inc., which was in operation from 1972 to 1991 on land the former owners of Sage Ranch leased to the testing facility.
"We don't know if it was considered a formal dump," said Norman Riley, project director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. "They did a thorough job of scouring the area for these igniters. Now they are doing some testing of the soil that was associated with the igniters."
The igniters are about the size of a finger and are "solid propellant igniters used in the space industry to power missile components or ignite liquid fuel rocket motors," according to a fact sheet released by DTSC.
The igniters were benign and did not have an ignition source. They were also in an area not accessible to the public. They are going to be managed as hazardous waste, Riley said.
"They were not in a condition where they were ready to go off," Riley said. "The wires attached to them were corroded. They were not a threat to the public."
Along with the debris at the shooting range site, contractors with the Field Lab's current owner, Boeing Co., are to remove 8,500 cubic yards of a glassy, lightweight, foam-like material in a streambed that is contaminated with cancer-causing materials and asbestos and antimony. The debris fields were discovered by three activists researching how water drains.
"Anywhere there is disturbed soil, we need to look," activist Christina Walsh said. "This is not forks and spoons. This is confirmed aerospace material from the Field Lab."
The debris fields are in remote areas of the park, adjacent to the Field Lab. For years, the shooting range debris was shrouded by heavy brush that burned away.
"No one knew there was so much clay pieces and lead shot buried," said Rori Skei, chief deputy director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, adding the conservancy purchased the land because "it is a key chunk in the inter-mountain wildlife habitat linkage."
Posted by NavalAviator on September 4, 2008 at 2:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Boing really got a "deal" when it purchased this property. They must be terribly happy with all of these "discoveries."
Posted by opns on September 4, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sure Boeing new about it before the acquisition. The deposit dumps of this radiation has been known way before they purchased.
Posted by handyhood on September 4, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
opns- where did you read "radiation" in this article? There was no radiation found at this dump site. A lot of lead shot and broken clay skeet yes, but radiation? It was a trap range. They shoot skeet at a trap range. Did they expect it to be free of debris? Skeet is made of clay and except that it can be harmful to pigs(somthing about the clay) it poses to health concerns to humans. They are trying to sensationalize this because it was part of the old rocketdyne site.
Posted by NavalAviator on September 4, 2008 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I may be wrong, but it reads like these finds were made in an area not known to be a previously identified dump site. The area of the finds seems to have been the former skeet range, not seemingly a dump site. I may have missed it in an earlier report, but was the skeet range also an identified dump?
Posted by Angelmama on September 4, 2008 at 11:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have thyroid cancer, and I am pretty sure that THIS IS THE REASON...growing up all my life in Simi Valley...now I live in the Knolls and this crap is being found? My husband wants to move far away....too damned close
Posted by ACMELA_Dot_Org on September 4, 2008 at 4:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
For More Sage Ranch Debris information check out...
http://www.h2ohno.com/sageranch.html
Take care,
William Preston Bowling
Founder
ACME
Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education
23350 Lake Manor Drive
Chatsworth, California 91311
Posted by goaliegirl69 on September 8, 2008 at 1:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ACME_LA... that information is horrifying. Especially the part on the link which says "Over 80% of the surface drainage from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory drains into Bell Canyon.
Bell Canyon is the Headwaters to the Los Angeles River."
Wow.
7 of my friends which grew up in Simi have developed cancer under the age of 40. All were residents since birth.
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