overview
What is the Santa Susana Field Lab?
Tucked away in the hills between Ventura County and Los Angeles, the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) was once a Cold War-era testing site for experimental nuclear reactors and rocket engines. Today, it remains dangerously contaminated with toxic metals, persistent chemicals, and radioactive waste.
Contamination at SSFL
In 1959, the Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE) suffered a partial meltdown, where one-third of the reactor’s fuel melted—one of the worst nuclear accidents in U.S. history.
Four additional nuclear reactor accidents occurred at SSFL, along with numerous nuclear spills, fires, and radioactive releases, polluting the soil and groundwater.
30,000 rocket engine tests led to over 800,000 gallons of trichloroethylene (TCE) contaminating the soil and groundwater.
Toxic substances from the SSFL have been found in the surrounding communities' groundwater, soil, wind, and surface water.
Who’s Responsible for the Cleanup?
The site’s Responsible Parties (RPs) are:
The Boeing Company
The Department of Energy (DOE)
NASA
Oversight falls under the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), specifically its Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)—the agency responsible for enforcing cleanup agreements.
Photo by William Preston Bowling
The Cleanup Agreements: Broken Promises
The 2007 Consent Order was signed by Boeing, NASA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the State of California. It required that the SSFL be cleaned up to meet Ventura County’s zoning requirements for the area.
The Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) was a legally binding cleanup agreement signed in 2010 by DOE and NASA - Boeing refused. It required the site to be cleaned to “background levels”—meaning the land should be restored to its pre-contamination state.
Under both agreements, the site was to be completed by 2017. The sitewide soil and groundwater cleanups have not begun.
Even worse, all three polluters—Boeing, DOE, and NASA—have backed out of their legal agreements. Instead, they plan to use a weaker "recreational" cleanup standard, which would leave up to 98% of the contamination on-site permanently.
But SSFL isn’t in an isolated location—people live near this toxic site. If contamination remains, residents will continue to be exposed through groundwater, wind, and surface runoff.
How Does SSFL Affect Human Health?
Studies show alarming health risks for people living near SSFL:
60% Higher Cancer Rates – A study for the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry by Dr. Hal Morgenstern found that residents within two miles of SSFL had a 60% higher cancer incidence compared to those living five miles away.
10-20% Higher Breast Cancer Rates – The California Breast Cancer Mapping Project identified elevated invasive breast cancer rates in the SSFL region.
A Pediatric Cancer Cluster – A recent cluster of childhood cancers near SSFL has raised serious concerns.
