Boeing’s Demolition of a California Nuclear Testing Facility Has Nearby Families Worried About Cancer (Inside Climate News)

During an inspection on Sept. 28, “DTSC observed Boeing conducting dust control mitigation and confirmed that demolition activities are not disturbing slabs or surrounding soil,” a DTSC official wrote Tuesday in a letter to Parents Against SSFL.

However, advocates argue that given the site’s well documented history of processing and storing of plutonium-239, which can cause cancer if inhaled or ingested, further protections for the nearby community—including the more than 120,000 people in Simi Valley—are critical. Group leaders have shared documents outlining the site’s history with state regulators.

“Is there contamination in these buildings? Almost certainly,” Michael Ketterer, a part-time faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Northern Arizona University, told Inside Climate News after reviewing documents outlining the SSFL site and residents’ concerns.