Good Science Is Rocketdyne’s Strength

Since the 1950s, Santa Susana Field Laboratory has been a wellspring of technological breakthroughs that took Americans to the moon and defended American families from the menace of the Cold War. Good science has always been at the heart of everything done at the Rocketdyne facility in the mountains above Simi Valley and the San Fernando Valley.

But Rocketdyne is about more than just rocket science. Good science must also be at the heart of any consideration of the impact the facility has had on the environment. For more than 40 years, scientific environmental monitoring at the facility and in the surrounding communities has been conducted in conjunction with several regulatory agencies. There is no scientific evidence that Rocketdyne operations have impacted the health of our neighbors.

The nature of the rocket business is that it requires the use of hazardous materials. To increase the margin of safety for every employee and to promote safe handling of these materials, Rocketdyne has, from the earliest days, provided protective equipment, safety training and procedures. At the same time, government oversight agencies have ensured that our operations have been in compliance with regulatory standards called for by the best science of the day.

The safety and health of our workers is our highest priority. More than 100 Rocketdyne employees work full time to ensure the safety of our operations, the health of our workers and a clean environment for our neighbors. At the same time, these scientists, engineers and environmental specialists reach out to the community. They conduct off-site environmental monitoring and sampling to provide reassurance that Rocketdyne activities have not had an impact on the local environment. They meet with our neighbors to address their concerns and to explain our ongoing safe operations. They also report on the progress of the cleanup of environmental contamination.

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Rocketdyne uses the most current scientific techniques for environmental monitoring of rocket engine development and testing, just as was done in Santa Susana Field Laboratory nuclear research before it was discontinued in the late 1980s. More than 200 off-site air, soil and water monitoring locations have been tested. Our extensive program of thorough on-site and off-site environmental sampling includes a ring of ground water monitoring wells surrounding the facility.

Sampling programs have determined that radiological contamination only exists on the laboratory property. Chemical contamination has only been found at locations within the facility and at just one site on state-owned land less than 800 feet from the current property boundary. It poses no threat to drinking water supplies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not found any basis for concern about off-site health impact.

What about the future? Scientific experts are developing new leading-edge practices to make a safe operation even safer. Rocketdyne constantly reviews hazardous material use and handling to reduce the use of these substances and, where possible, to find safer alternatives.

Meanwhile, Rocketdyne is in the midst of an aggressive program to clean up chemical and radiological contamination at the facility. More than 1.4 billion gallons of ground water have been pumped and treated since 1987. Soil cleanup is moving forward and is expected to be completed by 2006. Cleanup of areas contaminated by nuclear activities is being done with the help of the Department of Energy and is more than 90% complete.

The California Department of Health Services issued a report in 1992 stating that “people living near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory are not at increased risk for developing cancers associated with radiation exposure.” Yet we recognize that some health questions remain for our workers and the community. We are determined to find answers.

When the California Department of Health Services released two UCLA studies of the health of our workers, we concluded that the studies left many unanswered questions. As a result, Rocketdyne is moving forward to complete a more thorough assessment of employee exposures to hazardous materials and the health implications of our operations.

For our neighbors, Rocketdyne supports the effort by environmental specialists and community health experts at the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to determine what public health actions are warranted. Rocketdyne has long supported such an effort. We fully cooperated with this agency in providing records and other materials required for a complete examination, as well as total access to our employees and facilities. We applaud the thoroughness of the effort. It is our hope that good science will lead the way.

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The new millennium is all about scientific breakthroughs that will go beyond our wildest imagination. Rocketdyne will be at the forefront with the best in good science for space.

Meanwhile, back here in our corner of the Earth, the best in good science will continue to protect our workers, our neighbors and the environment of Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley.