‘Stop Lying’: Outrage as California Wildfires Burn Toxic Nuclear Site
SputnikNews.com
14.11.2018
Wildfires engulfed swathes of northern and southern California last week, claiming at least 48 lives, a state record for deaths attributable to such fires. However, some locals fear yet another danger, which seems even less controllable than the killer blazes.
The deadly fires which have raged through California since November 8 have hit a whopping 52,600 hectares (520 sq. km), destroying dozens of houses. Reports on the so-called Woolsey Fire have indicated that it began near Santa Susana, a contaminated nuclear test site.
The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL), a former nuclear and aeronautical research facility that suffered a long-undisclosed partial nuclear meltdown in 1959, has been named among the sites affected by the Woolsey Fire. Last week, California authorities said in a statement that the fire was moving away from the SSFL site and that it has not caused “any releases of hazardous materials that would pose a risk to people exposed to the smoke.”
However, the statement has apparently failed to quell the fears of local activists and green campaigners. Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), an NGO advocating environmental justice, claims that the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has long delayed the cleanup of the facility, located some 50 km northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, despite concerns that highly toxic materials could fall on the ground in the form on radioactive ash.
“We know what substances are on the site and how hazardous they are. We’re talking about incredibly dangerous radionuclides and toxic chemicals such a trichloroethylene, perchlorate, dioxins and heavy metals. These toxic materials are in the SSFL’s soil and vegetation, and when it burns and becomes airborne in smoke and ash, there is real possibility of heightened exposure for area residents,” said Dr. Robert Dodge, president of the Los Angeles-based charter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
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