Recent News
Nuclear energy backers say it’s vital for the fight against global warming. Don’t be so sure (LA Times)
“The 1959 explosion of a sodium-cooled test reactor at the government’s secretive Santa Susana Field Laboratory outside Simi Valley remains the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, venting an immense amount of radioactivity into the air. The event created what…
Are radioactive wildfires next on California’s apocalyptic climate-change guest list? (SF Chronicle)
“In 1959, there was a partial nuclear reactor meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County. The release, which was swept under the rug for decades, may have released 240 times more radiation than the accident at Three…
Fighting to expose the lies (Simi Valley Acorn)
Melissa Bumstead writes in the Simi Valley Acorn, “In regards to the article “Field lab doc highlights lack of trust,” I’d like to clarify what happened at the NASA meeting for its Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).”
Watchdog’s report raises concerns on plutonium at Los Alamos (Santa Fe New Mexican)
““They’ve identified another safety hazard at Los Alamos … and they’re estimating doses that are astronomical,” said Dan Hirsch, retired director of environment and nuclear policy programs at the University of California, Santa Cruz.” Read the whole story from the…
Radioactive contamination is creeping into drinking water around the U.S. (Ensia)
“When Jeni Knack moved to Simi Valley, California, in 2018, she had no idea that her family’s new home was within 5 miles of a former nuclear and rocket testing laboratory, perched atop a plateau and rife with contamination. Radioactive…
Harper’s Magazine Reports on the Risky Resurgence of Nuclear Power
“Dwight Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ program, unveiled in 1953, set the optimistic tone for nuclear power: ‘The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future. The capability, already proved, is here today,’ and…
County probes whether dust drifted from contaminated field lab site because of detonations (VC Star)
“The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District is investigating whether dust drifted off the contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory site during the recent demolition of two buildings by the U.S. Department of Energy. … The footage “clearly shows that whatever…
CBG Releases 2021 Newsletter
CBG has released its 2021 annual Newsletter as well as a year end letter by CBG President Dan Hirsch. Click here to read CBG’s 2021 Winter Newsletter Click here to read Dan Hirsch’s 2021 Letter to Help the Year End
Dan Hirsch Presents to National Academies on Low-Dose Radiation
On October 27, 2021, Dan gave a presentation to a committee of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the history of low-dose radiation standards and Department of Energy conflicts of interest. Video of his presentation can be…
Olney: California breaks promise to clean up radioactive pollution from nuclear meltdown (KCRW)
Warren Olney, who first broke the Santa Susana Field Lab story on KNBC-4 in 1979, has just put out an episode of To The Point, his podcast on KCRW, about the current state of the SSFL cleanup. Listen to the…
Guest column: Film brings long-awaited national spotlight on Santa Susana Field Lab (VC Star)
Dr. Robert Dodge has published a guest column in the VC Star about In the Dark of the Valley, the great new SSFL documentary premiering now on MSNBC. Read the column here: https://www.vcstar.com/story/opinion/editorials/2021/11/20/film-brings-long-awaited-national-spotlight-santa-susana-field-lab/8675132002/