My uncle worked at the SSFL Sodium Reactor and was present during the 1959 reactor meltdown. He died in 1970 from a rare form of brain cancer. His wife was part of the class action law suit but she died in 1998 before it was settled out of court. My mother worked at Rocketdyne in the 50s and 60s as an executive secretary and also died of a rare form of liver cancer in 2001. Thanks for this video.
I actually grew up in Santa Susana from 1965 on. As kids, we used to watch the big flame from the “hill at rocketdyne” It couldn’t have been more than 5 miles from our house. Sheesh. My dad died at 53 of cancer. It DID run in his family but I always wonder.
I live in the area, too. Have fond memories as a kid of the whole valley shaking when they tested those engines. Luckily I didn't live as close as you did =/
I was born in 1957 in Van Nuys. But our family moved to Woodland Hills in 1959. So I got the full impact until we left in 1968. I lived at 6125 LeSage st, just four miles from the epicenter. My family did not seem to have issues. I am 66 now and seem in servicable shape. One little known resident at the time was at Spahn Ranch on the north side of the meltdown was Charles Manson and his cult. The meltdown was before Manson's cult did their murders.
I find it interesting that one of the executives at the SSFL took a job at Stanford University and took the files concerning the reactor meltdown with him! Years later they were uncovered by a group of students and were made public.
I grew up in Northridge, hearing the rocket tests echoing across the sky pretty routinely. You could actually feel the rumble in your bones sometimes, I think that was a formative experience in my lifelong interest in aerospace. I was never told about the severity of the toxic spills and nuclear meltdown until I read an article about it a few years ago. People just didn't talk about it.
I grew up in Simi, I remember the windows rattling, from my mom's house I could see the steam/vapor rising during the engine tests. At the time it was routine like you said, but looking back that was kinda weird. I had no idea about the Na reactors until I was a teenager.
I lived off of Fallbrook in what is now called "West Hills", lol... As a kid I remember hearing the rockets and thinking it was as so cool. Also seeing weird chem trails in the sky. Now I am in Simi and as much as I like it out here it is scary to think of what is lurking in those hills. All of the stories of friends seeing the glowing material, and people shooting barrels of nuclear waste, things floating, is now much more believable.
Wasn't discovered until the 70's...people who've lived in the area know but I feel really bad for people who move here having no idea and end up buying property / a home really close to the lab
There is/was a lady who was quite active in sounding the alarm about SSFL. As I understand it at one time, in an effort to placate/comfort her, she was shown two different aerial maps of the facility, one from the 60's and one current. As she looked at these two photos she noted that in the 60's photo there was a large excavation that did not exist in the current photo. When she asked "What happened to that hole?". The official reply was "er, ah, yes well ...." Turns out that alot of toxic materials was simply pushed into the hole and covered up. BUSTED
This is a great piece. Yet, disturbing. I was born in Torrance, CA in 1957. Have lived the majority of my life in the LA area. I currently reside in Altadena, Ca which is about 35 miles from Santa Susana. I never knew. My friends have often said that I had a glowing personality. Now I just need to find out which isotope is responsible.
Barrett Keller I was born in Torrance in 1961- My Aunt and Uncle lived in Santa Susana; later Simi Valley until they moved to Seattle in the late 80”s: never heard of this until now, 😱☠️😱
Hell, the site itself has been used by the tv and film industry, as a location. An episode of "I-Spy", titled "Apollo", was filmed there, and at the Downey plant (where the shuttles were built): the story had to do with a plot to be carried out there, to sabotage our Apollo space program.
Good presentation. I worked for AI. I worked at the Canoga Park location (reactor removed) and visited one on the hill. I briefly touched on an accident in a book I wrote. Yes, there were a number of protocols not developed. Some people were also careless despite being educated. today, there is a lot of press about "people not knowing about pollution". BS. Everyone knew - the burn pits.
I lived in Canoga Park from 1958 to 1966. The engine tests at the Rocketdyne test pit would shake our house about 5 miles away. The night tests were always exciting as the exhaust from the engines would light up the night sky.
Thank you for this piece. When I was 12-13 years old I was living on the Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks border in the 1960s during Rocketdyne's test of the Saturn V rocket engines. Although we were living 15-16 miles away, as the crow flies, we could feel the house shake. I would ask my dad if it was a earthquake, he would aways say, no it's just Rockedyne testing engines. Decades later while living in Seattle, I visited Boeing's museum of flight. The Saturn V engine was on display as part of an Apollo 8 exhibit. I learned each engine burned 5,000 gallons of kerosene per second. I will aways remember the experience of feeling the ground shake during those tests.
Liked, then watched it. I lived in a contaminated area like this in the ex-USSR, and the leftover pollution is no joke. Interesting how each empire pursued military victory at great costs to their own people over decades. Suggestion for another video: the creation and symbolism of Meridian Hill Park in Washington DC.
acchaladka yeah, interesting indeed. Each empire is busy claiming the next one as the “evil” one while in the aftermath we’re all left wondering how big the differences were
I was born in Glendale in July 1956; my parents bought a house 5.1 miles from the Santa Susanna lab in 1961. My brothers and I grew up watching the Rocketdyne engine tests from our front yard. I found out about this facility and the 1st SRE "accident" 2 years ago (2017-my aunt was still living in Simi Valley, even closer to the lab that I was). All my family is dead, my brothers, father and aunt from lung cancer, my mother from adrenal cancer and I have Prostate cancer. I joined the Army in '75, my family moved to Oregon in '79. Pretty sure there is a link! According to KNBC4 (LA), Boeing is still in litigation with California over who'll pay for the cleanup that has not yet occurred. Parks? I really doubt that that will ever happen.
Live less than 20 miles to the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. One of the problems that Boeing is to downplay now when asked to pay for the cleanup, even though Bell creek is the water shed for 90% of that facility and is one of the major tributaries of the LA River, bringing all that gunk from decades down through the San Fernando Valley and then the LA Basin down to the South Bay... :(
I grew up in Thousand Oaks ~20 miles as the crow flies from there and remember even out there you could sometimes hear the rocket tests happening. The scary part about the site is how polluted it truly is but also how close urban sprawl has made peoples homes to it. I truly hope it can become clean enough to visit and becomes maybe a museum as lots of significant stuff did happen there
I live in Simi Valley, a couple of miles from SSFL. While the outline of this segment is accurate, it is hard to overstate the damage done by delays of cleanup by Boeing, abetted by the federal government and California regulators. There have been swarms of childhood cancers and miscarriages. I knew a woman who lived for years a few blocks from me who died riddled with cancer in her lungs and brain. More will die quietly and without much thought that SSFL was a major causal factor.
My mother was born and raised in Oxnard- in 1938... I was born in Pasedena in 1957. She was fairly healthy her whole life, but I have so many things amiss that even doctors shake their heads. No cancer so far though, thank God. But no one has been able to figure out how I got this way! Makes me wonder....
I worked there in the 1980's. My job was to keep brush down around fuel storage tanks, access roads, explosive bunkers in case of a fire. They used the Explosives in one experiment that really fascinated me, So much so I tried to go to college to learn more about it. I just didn't have the grades. They had a machine that they would put certain types of metal into, Then they would use explosives to implode the metal. The one scientist that I talked with described it like this. It was like taking a golf ball size piece of metal and turning into a marble size piece of metal then they would examine the metals density. (I'm sure to make more lighter stronger metals). One day I was driving down one of the roads and was pulled over to allow a forklift with a large (What looked like a 15 foot oxygen tank on it's forks) I asked the guy who told me to get off the road what the tank was. He told me it was a fuel rod for the reactor. I seen them shoot off an engine one day, that was the most amazing thing I saw while I worked there. The sound it made when they closed the valves to shut off the engine is where they got sound effect for Godzilla's cry. (I bet the history guy didn't know that)? I was told if i ever heard the siren, that I would immediately go to the maintenance building. And one day it did go off. The stuff they had in the tanks needed to be kept at a very cold temp, and if it ever got to a certain warm temp it would become very unstable. Scared the living daylights out of me. But then I was 21 years old then. Though I only worked there a short period of time, it is an experience that I would never forget.
Also, If you have studied the drainage maps of that ridge you will find that approximately 80% of the aquifer drains to the West side into Simi Valley.
Holy Sh*t, I used to live about 2-3 miles away in Simi Valley. I would use the Santa Susana Pass daily for years. For at least 45 years has been used as a massive parkland. In addition, Bob Hope owed much of the area in Simi Valley just down from the Pass.
As always a professional educated presentation. Thank you! We must do something to get more young people listening to your unbiased presentations. I learn more in in 10 minutes from you than all the hours I spent in history pre-requirements lectures in pursuit of my education.
I'm reminded of the BOMARC missile controversy in Canada. IIRC, the grand plan was to replace the RCAF fighter wings with ground-launched BOMARC anti-aircraft missiles, but what made them so controversial was that they needed nuclear warheads - which no Canadian government was exactly anxious to store on Canadian soil. The tale also includes the controversial cancellation of the CF-105 Avro Arrow, which is a huge Canadian controversy to this very day - although all but the most ardent Arrow advocates seem to have forgotten BOMARC.
This is of interest to me, because a nearby nuclear facility (a sister to the Three-Mile Island plant) was shut down in the shadow of melt-down fears. Once again, well-written, and well-presented.
I wouldn't be too worried about a nuclear meltdown. This was an experimental reactor with zero contamination dome and people seemingly flying by the seat of their pants doing experiments. Nuclear power is pretty damn safe, generally.
Thank you for talking about this , I live in Chatsworth Ca (right next to Canoga Park), every year to this day we get something in the mail saying dont let kids play in the dirt. The Chatsworth resivour is empty they say its because of the Northridge earthquake but this is the real reason. Its a big cover up that most people living in the valley below dont know about.
If you look up history of the Chatsworth Reservoir you'll find that they were digging a massive diversion ditch along the side of the reservoir abutting the hills at Valley Circle Drive -- in order to divert all the drainage coming down from the contaminated hills into the reservoir. The work stopped after the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake (not Northridge), when the reservoir was decommissioned and drained.
The Chatsworth reservoir was severely damaged during the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and can no longer retain water. Due to the expense of the repairs the reservoir was abandoned by the DWP for other (newer) water supply lines entering the San Fernando Valley.
@@josephrudolf1060 lots of natural clay beds are not too far. They spent millions on black rubber balls for the resinous along the 405, They cant just say we know the water is poison and gave many people cancer in the area.
I did not even think about that as the reason for the reservoir being empty...I'd also heard the quake BS. Makes total sense and I don't know why I didn't think that was the cause myself.
BUT, as we now see....a few idiots hit the "dislike" button. Mother Theresa could have posted a video where she wishes everyone well....and some fool...somewhere.....would dislike it.....
I have found Your Videos one of the most interesting programs on the internet. I lived in Simi Valley for a couple of years and listened to the medical stories of many people who worked there. They all had strange forms of Cancer. Other videos refer to this location as the site of the worst and most covered up nuclear disaster in the USA. L.A.'s Secret Meltdown; Simi Valley, CA (1959) Largest Nuclear Incident in U.S. history.
I live a mile from the entrance gate to the laboratory in the Simi Hills on 120 acres. People in Simi Valley are still asking questions because of all the contradictory evidence that still comes from the site. Beautiful landscape where Hollywood made 1000's of western episodes on dozens of movie ranches in the area since the 20's. They ruined a wonderful piece of property. The Charles Manson cave is about a mile in the opposite direction from me, along with the Lone Ranger Rock.
SO very interesting! Thank you so much for posting this video! This is an extremely interesting part or American History. The vast majority of people have no idea what has gone on behind closed doors, especially in areas that are now lived in by people that have no idea what was done there before they moved into the area. So much danger to people who have no idea the history of the area that they live in. It's sad that so many have no idea that they are living in an area that is so toxic. You are, as an extreme understatement, a breath of fresh air! So many toxic experiments, so little government response. We are as bad as the old Soviet Union, well, almost as bad. Pretty close. Both Governments have a huge amount of damage to the environment to account for. Thank you so much for your videos! You are magnifico! I think I spelled that right...
I grew up at the base of these mountains in Simi Valley. Which was untouched wilderness all the way up the hill. Only just in the last 10 years ive seen the mountain be scrapped about 3 feet of dirt downward all the way up the to the top of the mountain.
Yes! Canoga Park, CA. I lived 2 miles down the hill from this facility. Well after they had stopped Rocket Engine testing there of course. The roar of the engine tests were a common sound for us growing up here. TY THG
Thanks for the history. I am sure that there are lots of interesting stories about industrial history that you could dig into. In any case, I have enjoyed all of the stories that you have produced so far !!!
I've lived in Canoga Park for 25 years. My wife's family has been here since the late 40s. A lot of the old timers in Canoga Park well remember the testing at the Rocketdyne facility. Many and I mean many of the workers in that facility have died of various forms of cancer. Too many by mere chance. And make no mistake about it the area is still contaminated e.g. the south end of Simi Valley, the Santa Susanna Hills. Bell Canyon and Dalton Canyon were the runoff basins for the drainage from Rocketdyne and builders have no problem building there. I'm not quite sure if the buyers truly understand what they're getting into. The water table is still contaminated. I have been in that facility many times, they give tours a couple of times a year. The facility can also be seen from various hiking trails in the area. Of course LA being LA they are looking to build houses in the facility. The idea is being fiercely contested by various groups. As a side note there is a petroglyph cave in the area which is exquisite. The fight to retain the area as a park continues.
@@estherramirez2815 so sorry to hear about your family. I grew up off of fallbrook right down the street from you. I remember hearing the rockets and seeing the chemtrails in the sky. Back then nobody knew any better. My father did some work in the old rocketdyne facility and he had to where lead suits while he was working. Now its Devry I believe. 50 children in a 2 mile radius close to the ssfl have cancer and its just swept under the rug. Its so sad. There is no history of cancer in my family and my uncle was diagnosed twice, he lives in Simi. luckily he is in remission but who knows what is coming for me or my family. As much as I love where I grew up it's time to move.
A geiger counter obtained on ebay will quickly tell you about any radioactive decay in the residential neighborhoods. Most of those elements and their isotopes produced in those accidents are more than likely gone. Most have very short half-life. Invest in a decent detector instrument and you can quickly tell what is what in your area. I carry one because we have facilities here that are similar. In one case they melted down a reactor on purpose to see what would happen. Very few people know about this incident. It pays to check and to be certain... especially where there were projects done many decades ago.
Excellent. I especially like that way that you make room for the the very real possibility that chemical disposal at the site is a strong contender for potential health effects associated with the site. While the partial meltdown of that experimental reactor core may not have helped, I suspect that random disposal of various dangerous chemicals by burning at LOW temperature, seems like a more likely smoking gun based on the limited information available.
I lived about a mile from the SSFL from 1960-1964. We would hear the rocket engine tests all the time. We were also told that what they were doing involved secret government projects. So interesting to learn about this part of my childhood.
To David Zybert: Yes, I lived there from about '62 to '67. Rocketdyne's rocket motor tests were all we knew about, up over the hill from my neighborhood. Nothing nuclear. None of us minded the great roar. That seemed to be national security at work. And the Space Race. Cool stuff. And sonic booms. Now, no young person knows what a sonic boom is today. But we lost no windows so they were great. Many years later I married a wonderful girl from Rhodesia. Once when the Shuttle was going to land at Edwards AFB we were reminded there were going to be sonic booms, according to the news. That really scared my wife. She couldn't understand what was so "great" about it. But it was a revived memory for me. Later we moved to the mountains near JPL. Interesting stories -- but no big noises. And a few of us do remember.
My friends and I were in our late teens and we used to go exploring in the areas around LA. Once we followed a little used track that wound through rocky country. It went on for a long way, and was like driving through a canyon of huge boulders. Finally, we arrived at a locked gate, and we could see rocket engines bolted to huge rocks for testing. We didn't see anyone, but we beat a hasty retreat. This would have been in the early sixties. It was not uncommon to see rocket launches in LA. I saw one once that looked like a twenty mile wide jellyfish of rainbow colours. Spectacularly beautiful, it was the blast radius of a stage separation.
I was four months old and lived less than a mile away when the sodium reactor melted down, and you are correct; there was no evacuation, no announcement, no warnings regarding fallout accumulation or well water contamination. So, for my family life continued as normal until my wonderful grandmother developed stomach cancer a few years later. I have no doubt her cancer resulted from drinking the well water, and milk from dairy cows that grazed across the street. I did not find out about the accidents and chemical spills at the site for 30 years. The loss of my grandmother, as well as the long term effects on my health have been substantial irreplaceable losses, and due to my lack of awareness of the situation I was not part of the class action lawsuit, though a settlement would only ease my current hardship and not replace that which the decision to hide the incidents from the public took away from my life, and the lives of the neighbors I had growing up in that location. Government secrecy, in my estimation, most often results in a long term negative effect for the public, despite it's short term benefits. I suppose my grandmother could be considered an unaware conscripted soldier and casualty of the Cold War. I wonder how many other Americans are considered conscripts in the text of policy decisions they would not support if they were aware it existed? It is because of the existence of this kind of disparity between the will of the people and hidden policy that history like what transpired at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory deserves to be remembered. Thank you for your hard work!
I just discovered your channel in the past week or so. This is one of my favorite channels on the Tube. I have always tried to discuss history with my two sons. I am looking forward to the times when we can all watch the channel together. Great job and I love your office memorabilia!
I thought our little secret nuclear laboratory was a big deal - the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory outside Dawsonville, GA. GNAL was a drop in the bucket with SSFL being the bucket.
Eh... not really. Ssfl doesn’t even make it onto the NPL (National Priorities List/Superfund for toxic cleanup). If the govt tried to cover this up they didn’t do a very good job- it was public knowledge when I was young.
i remember hearing the rockets as a kid living on the southern edge of simi. shit it made my house shake a little bit, used to spend time up in those hills a lot and there always was a feel about the place that i can't describe
I grew up in the San Fernando valley during the 1970's, just a few miles from Rocketdyne and Santa Susana. I can remember times when rocket motors were being tested up in the Pass. It could be heard for miles. Rocketdyne is long gone--it's a shopping mall now.
Adam Goatfish Their current owners, Aerojet, moved the Rocketdyne assembly plant to a building on DeSoto Av between Parthenia and Nordhoff. They're currently producing more RS-25 engines (SSMEs) for the Space Launch System's first core stage.
Hmm, I grew up in Simi Valley, just the other side of this thing and I'm recovering from cancer now...When we went "to town" we called it "going over the hill", but I never knew exactly why. Spahn Ranch was at the foot of this place. Hmm again...
My dad and brother worked on the Hill. Dad talked about one of the melt downs, and also about an employee that died of radiation exposure. He said they had to shower and change clothes when leaving for the day. The employee that passed apparently had also showered but wore the same socks home that that was where the exposure came from. Apparently the clothes hamper was "hot". So dad always had spare socks in the glove box.
I’m a Granddaughter of a SSL victim. Currently undergoing genetic counseling to see how the SSL incident affected me personally. Compensation should be coming from Boeing for our suffering.
I am so happy I came across this video. My grandfather worked on the site as a U.S. Army missile technician from 48-51. He had some amazing stories from his time there.
Wow ! Speechless. A lot to think about there. At each step in the decision making process, one has to ask " is this right or wrong?" One has to weigh so many complex inter-connected variables. We are forced to ask ourselves so many questions but are only given a fantastically delivered history lesson dripping with wit, humor/sarcasm, and wisdom-- instead of being fed the answers. Well done THG
My sister lived near this site and died of ovarian cancer, the only one in the history of our family. Some people wonder why California today has such strict environmental laws, well this is one reason. LA has grown right up against the testing grounds because they were assured that there was no danger. How often have we heard this before? California is the state with the most environmental disasters! From hydraulic gold mining, the Salton Sea flood, land fills in San Francisco, petroleum refineries and well drilling, to reservoir dams breaking, California has seen it all!
As always, great video. Not sure if you'd be interested (especially since you've already covered a number of these), but the SL-1 nuclear accident, which happened a little under two years after the SSFL accident, might make for a good video. It has a lot going for it (as a story). There's intrigue (questions about the motivations of at least one of the crew members). And, of course, it's the only U.S. reactor accident that resulted in immediate deaths from the explosion that was caused (one of which is quite a bit gruesome, though -- might be a bit much). But, most interesting of all were the lengths and out-of-the-box thinking that was required to contain and clean up the accident without causing a second explosion. I've always had a personal interest in learning about nuclear weapon and power plant safety failures. I was a missile technician in the Navy (I worked on the Trident 1 and Poseidon C-4); and I later worked as a welder for Newport News Shipbuilding (helping to build or repair nuclear reactor containment rooms for both new production as well as refueling overhauls for several different vessels.
longreads.com/2017/09/05/atomic-city/ -- Cool... you might be interested in this then. It seems more conjecture than history to me, but I found it intriguing nonetheless. The military has often fielded wild theories and created scapegoats out of whole-cloth in the course of solving various "investigations" (The USS Iowa's turret explosion springs immediately to mind).
The History Guy: Five Minutes of History There is an AEC film about the accident and clean up that you should be able to easily find on the internet. My nuclear engineering professor at Oregon State University a long time ago was involve in the design work of this reactor. The big problem was the use of a boron plate control rod. Helium is produced when boron undergoes neutron bombardment. Being a gas in a metal, swelling eventually happens. So the thought was this boron control rod became stuck when the man was pulling it out for maintenance work. He gave it a really hard pull and it jerked loose and moved very qickly,. Some water was still in the vessel by accident and the sudden movement of the unstuck boron control rod cause enough neutrons to be moderated with resulting fissions that the reactor went prompt critical, vaporizing the water in an entergetic steam explosion. The combination of high radiation from the reactor going prompt critical and the force of the steam killed two of the 3 men instantly. The thrid man was not next to the reactor and was found alive by first responders. He was able to say something about what happened but he too died from the radiation exposure from the accident. All three were supposidly buried in special lead coffins. Another profeesor I had later in graduate school was one of the many health physics professional that worked the cleanup afterwards. Let me know if you need any other information about this.
The SL-1 accident was well chronicled in John Fuller’s 1975 book, “We Almost Lost Detroit”. Two other interesting and insightful books by James Mahaffey are: “Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima and, “Atomic Adventures, Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science”. The two books provide a glimpse into the awful results of man’s hubris, carelessness, and short sightedness, when it comes to calamity, pollution, the unfortunate results of Murphy’s Law as applied to nuclear and toxic accidents. All three are interesting reads. John Fuller’s later books on this topic are interesting and well meant. However his conclusions may be a bit “knee-jerk” and dated for the present. You decide…
Also worth noting that our area (Simi/Moorpark/etc) is part of the flight path every jet passes over when landing at (flight pattern recently changed- used to be when taking off from) LAX airport. There’s quite a bit of data (save for the landfill) readily available for anyone in these communities who are genuinely worried about their health. Also- thanks for a great video! I like (and subscribed to) your channel!
They should be going after the greedy real-estate developers who developed the land around a NUCLEAR TEST FACILITY !!!!!!! What could possibly go wrong? And lets not forget about the authorities who approved the development just to get more tax revenue. Those people are sick because of greed. ..... just my humble opinion.
Dear july8xx: Although you are correct in stating that greed is the main driver of most development, that doesn't mean that it must be that way. Look at the great scientists of the Scientific Revolution like Galileo & Newton. They never made a penny directly from their work. Deguerre invented the first camera in the 1830's, yet gave away the design to the public instead of getting a patent & getting rich. Greed on a societal level seems to be much more a product of the Capitalist system of economics that started to engulf mankind only since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700's in England.
This didn't happen 5 years ago. Back then regular people had no idea how bad radiation really was. It was the job of the federal government to block those developments. Something I doubt they wanted to do since this was national security and I doubt they wanted the attention.
Thank-you very much for doing an excellent informational video on the early days of aerospace and rocket technology during the early space exploration ventures, among the other related subjects!
I lived in the Simi Valley in the 1960s and RocketDyne tested rocket engines. When they did so at night lit up the whole valley. Some times there was a thunderous roar with no flame apparent.
Another great video! Cold War era aerospace and science experimentation may be my favorite subject of discussion. You could talk about programs NA Aviation had going on in those times for years and never get half of the things they were involved in out haha! Sad that company became a "was" instead of remaining "is". I'd kinda like to see a video about...The History Guy - what is your story, what is the story about the hats and other items in the background? I think that would be just as interesting!
I was a kid in the mid San Fernando Valley in the '50s and '60s, I remember hearing the distant roar of rocket tests and sometimes seeing a glow over the hills to the west. Nothing said about nuclear reactors.
Similar thing is currently unfolding in St. Louis, as an underground landfill fire approaches a large radioactive dump buried right next door to it. Material left over from Mallinckrodt corporation involvement during the Manhattan Project. In fact, the subject of the history surrounding Americas toxic sites would make a great video in itself.
This is a little off topic from this video but the reference to aviation made me think of it. I read something about aviation navigation lights and concrete markers to help mail planes in the 20’s find their way across the country. The pilots would fly from light to light at night. Would you be able to do a five minute video on this part of aviation history.
I remember watching a program on one of the Discovery channels where the showed these arrows and supposedly educated people pontificated on what they were for. BTW they were funded by congress through the U.S. Post office budge for the Transcontinental Air Mail System.
Little known fact is that the general area that this site is in is also home of the movie ranch that Charlie Manson and his cult lived at during his reign of terror.
I think that Manson was well on his was to being insane well before he moved to the Spahn Ranch area. That said, there is something about that area that is strange...could be that there is something there that could cause abnormal actions on an individuals part...
I used to rent horses from them during that time for trail rides. And one of my high school teachers was one of the ones who raided the ranch and arrested them for the car theft ring.
Once again a very interesting and informative video. Thank you! I have found myself binge watching your videos lately.... 😅😃 I would like to make one little suggestion: get yourself a lavalier microphone. It will improve sound quite a bit. Not that it is ‚bad‘, considering some of the other videos out there by other people that were apparently filmed with a potato using sound that comes out of a rusty bucket. I know full well that I am ‚complaining‘ of a very (very!) high level here, so as I said: it is only a suggestion.
Shooting barrels of toxic materials with riffles until they explode... It's amazing that with all the technology & the knowledge of engineering, that it is always the waste of development that seems to do a substantial amount of harm... Rockefeller in his quest for kerosene, as a source of clean burning lantern fuel, replacing a depleted source of whale oil, dumped nearly all byproducts into local waterways, before the gasoline burning internal combustion engine came along. It amazes me, that all that planning, all the preparation that goes into the technologies of today, and it is the waste that garners the least amount of respect.
I have vague memories of Walter Cronkite talking about the 3 mile island meltdown where 51% of the core melted down. Thank you for the videos. I always look forward to seeing the next one.
Really love your videos! You should research the Swedish naval ship, Wasa , that sank on the maiden voyage just outside the harbour in 1628. It was salvage in 1962 and , as far as i know, the onöy 17th century ship ever salvaged. It is now preserved in a museum. I think you will find the history facinating. Would love to hear your take on it 😊 greets from a big fan.
When I was a physics student in the 1970's in Chicago, I had a summer job at Argonne National Laboratory, putting together computer equipment for the "Core Components Test Loop for the Liquid Sodium Fast Breeder Reactor". What I didn't realize until I later moved to Thousand Oaks was that my summer project work may have ended up at SSFL nearby! By the way, my picture is of me hiking in the Simi Hills, about 5 miles west of SSFL.
I grew up in Canoga Park, just out side of the 2 mile circle of the SSFL. I used to play in bell creek, in the nuclear run-off. I guess I'll look for a class action suit to join.
what a trip.... I grew up in Canoga Park in the sixties. we used to watch the rocket testing all the time. Never heard about the nuclear stuff before. I even did some kind of construction job at this location for just a few weeks in the late 70s
My Hometown Lakeview Oregon had an Uranium processing plant and 2 Large Mines in the Mountains north of Town ,They did a Superfund Cleanup at the mines and where they dumped the slurry on the flats north of the plant ,We have clusters of rare forms of cancer not seen anywhere else in America ...
Santa Susana full of archaeological sites. It's a protected archaeological site as well as a HAZMAT site, now. There is rock art and are rock shelters there. George Air Force Base in Victorville is another HAZMAT site near population they used to decontaminate aircraft that flew threw the Nevada Test Range and the whole military housing area is contaminated and they had the burn pits for radioactive materials as well. Work on environmental remediation in SoCal. The Long Beach Children's Hospital is built on a benzene seep.
The facility is actually closer to Northridge than Canoga Park. Santa Susana Pass connects the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, and contains the county line between Los Angeles County and Ventura County. There are many old motion picture ranch facilities in the area, and indeed one of those is the Spahn Ranch where the Manson Family was living when they perpetrated the Tate/LaBianca Murders and were subsequently arrested. In the 1980's, I lived in a condo in Simi Valley, not far from the test facility. Periodically, they would test fire Space Shuttle engines, causing glass in the windows to violently shake.
I grew up in LA from 1960 to 1988 and never heard of any of this . yeah whata kids know or care and fortunatly i was in the south bay but did live for a time in canoga park yet was still oblivious. Thanks again Rich /San Jose
Random facts about this area: 1. The skull of the large Tyrannosaurus rex at the Field Museum, "Sue," was CT scanned at Rocketdyne there in 1998. 2. Some of the facilities there were used in television series. The building where the Sue skull was scanned was once a sound stage for 'The Six Million Dollar Man." I experienced a rocket test when I was there (I was the post-doc who worked on Sue), and I'll never forget it.
As boys in the 1960's we called it Rocketdyn. My father, occasionally worked there as did the man across the street. We rode our horses there to the movie sets, that were in the same hills. Charley Manson used to hang out there in Box canyon... lots of Jimson weed growing in that area. I have no health problems.
@@johnscallan5648 CANCER & FOREVER NUCLEAR WASTE FOR #ENERGY? NO THANKS! SMELLS LIKE SOMEONES SUBSIDIZED #CATCH22 FOR JOB SECURITY KILLING #ECOLOGY AND #HEALTH UNDER THE REIGN OF A FASCIST OLIGARCHY
@@johnscallan5648 The typical response of someone who has no valid response to a legitimate argument is the use of _ad hominem_ such as we see you use here. Insulting and ridiculing the person instead of the argument is the clearest sign that the argument is correct...
in 1959, at two years old, my family moved to Woodland Hills. We were 4.2 miles, line of sight, from the reactor, according to Google Maps. I was two when we moved there and 11 when we left. But I have nothing from then. If anything I went the other way. I have overcome a stroke and a decade of major depression after dropping the meds. I had a four way bypass last year and have taken no meds for over a year now. So, I guess I got the super power of healing my own issues.
Mr History Guy... Interesting story. Do you know about the Aerojet facility built in the edge of the Florida Everglades in the '60's? The idea was to put it out where no one could see it or visit it. It tested and built built Saturn rockets and floated them down a canal yp the ocean and then up to Cape Kennedy. It was abandoned on a moment's notice, and even now is spewing a lot of pollution into the envirornment.. The canal which drains southeast to the ocean is still ecological disaster for the Everglades.
My father was a Nuclear Engineer at the sight working for Atomics International. I visited the site many times as we belonged to the Rifle and Shotgun club there. He was involved with the accident on the sodium reactor and was responsible for designing and implementing the clean up. I once accompanied him into the reactor and saw the fuel storage tank were the fuel rods were kept under water with a weird blue glow. None of my family or my father had any health effects. My father passed away at the age of 86 from natural causes. We felt the rocket tests at our house in Chatsworth all the time. As a matter of fact we thought the huge Sylmar earthquake was just another Saturn 5 test until it got real bad. This was normal life in the Chatsworth area growing up.
Why would you move next to such a complex? I guess for the same reason they build next to Airports, Railroads and roadway and then complain about the noise, thank for the lesson.
Because the site's presence and practice was not presented to home buyers back then, just like the way the site is hidden from prospective home buyers of property in modern housing developments in adjoining areas today!!
Perhaps the government allowed people to live near these sites, because to cordon off the whole area from the public would have drawn attention to it and made the Soviets suspicious about the true nature of the site. Just throwin' one out there....
Mike B. - Other than the covered-up nuclear incident, Simi Valley and surroundings are a great place to live! It's isolated from the hectic vibe of LA and the San Fernando Valley, it's peaceful, it gets ocean air many afternoons, the people out in Simi/Moorpark/West SFV are by and large wonderful. What could go wrong?
Thank you so much for the content you bring to CZcams. Your in depth knowledge and extremely high production value bring life and light to history. Great job, thank you!
...........In 1961, I lived on Topanga Canyon Blvd in Chatsworth, right next to the railroad tracks. And across Topanga from Rancho San Antonio Home for Boys run by the Catholic Jesuit Brothers/Priests. Anytime we heard the rockets at Rocketdyne start up usually in the afternoon or evening, and start to rumble, we would run outside to feel the shaking of the ground and air, and see the flames of the rocket engines flare up into the sky above the rocky Santa Susana Mts. It was exciting to us kids. Our Cub Scout, and Boy Scout Troops went on field trips up there to see the Field Laboratory. And got to see tests taking place from behind the barriers. Later in 62, I lived over in Canoga in a relatively new housing subdivision, and went to Columbus Junior High. And still, in the afternoons or evenings several times a week we would hear the rockets engines starting to roar, and feel the ground shake, and watch the flames shoot up over the rocky hills of SS. We kids were proud to be so close to all the science and technology happening around us, and many of us dreamed of growing up and being part of it.......Then growing older, finding girls fascinating, and the importance of money and cars to accomplish things. In 64 I got in trouble stealing cars, and ended up in Rancho San Antonio home for Boys on Topanga in Chatsworth across from where I had lived four years earlier, and again I listened to the sound of the testing up in the hills, and the roar of the engines, and the flames shooting up towards the sky. Pretty soon Rocketdyne became unimportant, while Vietnam became all the news and life around us.....And soon I headed off like so many others to the military, and the war in Vietnam. And life was forever different......
The gate on the road to the place was typically unlocked until 1970. I lived in Simi Valley and the area in question was great for hiking. "nearby city of Moorpark". Moorrpark is easily 30 miles (as the crow flies) from Santa Susana. Why not send the power to Simi Valley (same direction but much closer) These rocket tests livened up a boring day of elementary schooling in the San Fernando Valley. The tests could be heard all across the valley.
My uncle worked at the SSFL Sodium Reactor and was present during the 1959 reactor meltdown. He died in 1970 from a rare form of brain cancer. His wife was part of the class action law suit but she died in 1998 before it was settled out of court. My mother worked at Rocketdyne in the 50s and 60s as an executive secretary and also died of a rare form of liver cancer in 2001. Thanks for this video.
I actually grew up in Santa Susana from 1965 on. As kids, we used to watch the big flame from the “hill at rocketdyne” It couldn’t have been more than 5 miles from our house. Sheesh. My dad died at 53 of cancer. It DID run in his family but I always wonder.
They killed your dad
I live in the area, too. Have fond memories as a kid of the whole valley shaking when they tested those engines. Luckily I didn't live as close as you did =/
I was born in 1957 in Van Nuys. But our family moved to Woodland Hills in 1959. So I got the full impact until we left in 1968. I lived at 6125 LeSage st, just four miles from the epicenter.
My family did not seem to have issues. I am 66 now and seem in servicable shape.
One little known resident at the time was at Spahn Ranch on the north side of the meltdown was Charles Manson and his cult. The meltdown was before Manson's cult did their murders.
Are you still alive?
I find it interesting that one of the executives at the SSFL took a job at Stanford University and took the files concerning the reactor meltdown with him! Years later they were uncovered by a group of students and were made public.
I grew up in Northridge, hearing the rocket tests echoing across the sky pretty routinely. You could actually feel the rumble in your bones sometimes, I think that was a formative experience in my lifelong interest in aerospace. I was never told about the severity of the toxic spills and nuclear meltdown until I read an article about it a few years ago. People just didn't talk about it.
I grew up in Simi, I remember the windows rattling, from my mom's house I could see the steam/vapor rising during the engine tests. At the time it was routine like you said, but looking back that was kinda weird. I had no idea about the Na reactors until I was a teenager.
People didn’t KNOW about it. It was a huge and deliberate coverup.
I lived off of Fallbrook in what is now called "West Hills", lol... As a kid I remember hearing the rockets and thinking it was as so cool. Also seeing weird chem trails in the sky. Now I am in Simi and as much as I like it out here it is scary to think of what is lurking in those hills. All of the stories of friends seeing the glowing material, and people shooting barrels of nuclear waste, things floating, is now much more believable.
Was over in CP myself & thought the same
Wasn't discovered until the 70's...people who've lived in the area know but I feel really bad for people who move here having no idea and end up buying property / a home really close to the lab
Aaah, the good old days when you could still test rocket engines in the parking garage without losing your job.
There is/was a lady who was quite active in sounding the alarm about SSFL. As I understand it at one time, in an effort to placate/comfort her, she was shown two different aerial maps of the facility, one from the 60's and one current. As she looked at these two photos she noted that in the 60's photo there was a large excavation that did not exist in the current photo. When she asked "What happened to that hole?". The official reply was "er, ah, yes well ...." Turns out that alot of toxic materials was simply pushed into the hole and covered up. BUSTED
This is a great piece. Yet, disturbing.
I was born in Torrance, CA in 1957. Have lived the majority of my life in the LA area. I currently reside in Altadena, Ca which is about 35 miles from Santa Susana. I never knew.
My friends have often said that I had a glowing personality. Now I just need to find out which isotope is responsible.
Barrett Keller I was born in Torrance in 1961- My Aunt and Uncle lived in Santa Susana; later Simi Valley until they moved to Seattle in the late 80”s: never heard of this until now, 😱☠️😱
Barrett Keller probably ceasium.....
Hell, the site itself has been used by the tv and film industry, as a location. An episode of "I-Spy", titled "Apollo", was filmed there, and at the Downey plant (where the shuttles were built): the story had to do with a plot to be carried out there, to sabotage our Apollo space program.
I think the site was used early in the movie "Telefon", 1977.
Good presentation. I worked for AI. I worked at the Canoga Park location (reactor removed) and visited one on the hill. I briefly touched on an accident in a book I wrote. Yes, there were a number of protocols not developed. Some people were also careless despite being educated. today, there is a lot of press about "people not knowing about pollution". BS. Everyone knew - the burn pits.
I lived in Canoga Park from 1958 to 1966.
The engine tests at the Rocketdyne test pit would shake our house about 5 miles away.
The night tests were always exciting as the exhaust from the engines would light up the night sky.
Thank you for this piece. When I was 12-13 years old I was living on the Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks border in the 1960s during Rocketdyne's test of the Saturn V rocket engines. Although we were living 15-16 miles away, as the crow flies, we could feel the house shake. I would ask my dad if it was a earthquake, he would aways say, no it's just Rockedyne testing engines. Decades later while living in Seattle, I visited Boeing's museum of flight. The Saturn V engine was on display as part of an Apollo 8 exhibit. I learned each engine burned 5,000 gallons of kerosene per second. I will aways remember the experience of feeling the ground shake during those tests.
Liked, then watched it.
I lived in a contaminated area like this in the ex-USSR, and the leftover pollution is no joke. Interesting how each empire pursued military victory at great costs to their own people over decades.
Suggestion for another video: the creation and symbolism of Meridian Hill Park in Washington DC.
acchaladka yeah, interesting indeed.
Each empire is busy claiming the next one as the “evil” one while in the aftermath we’re all left wondering how big the differences were
My American patriotism is triggered.
This story is a blast.
I was born in Glendale in July 1956; my parents bought a house 5.1 miles from the Santa Susanna lab in 1961. My brothers and I grew up watching the Rocketdyne engine tests from our front yard. I found out about this facility and the 1st SRE "accident" 2 years ago (2017-my aunt was still living in Simi Valley, even closer to the lab that I was). All my family is dead, my brothers, father and aunt from lung cancer, my mother from adrenal cancer and I have Prostate cancer. I joined the Army in '75, my family moved to Oregon in '79. Pretty sure there is a link! According to KNBC4 (LA), Boeing is still in litigation with California over who'll pay for the cleanup that has not yet occurred. Parks? I really doubt that that will ever happen.
Hey fellow CA to Oregon transplant and a granddaughter of a SSL victim.. there is a genetic link please see a genetic counselor.
Live less than 20 miles to the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. One of the problems that Boeing is to downplay now when asked to pay for the cleanup, even though Bell creek is the water shed for 90% of that facility and is one of the major tributaries of the LA River, bringing all that gunk from decades down through the San Fernando Valley and then the LA Basin down to the South Bay... :(
Wow! I can't count how many time I have traversed the Santa Susan Pass and never new this facility existed. Thanks History Guy!
I grew up in Thousand Oaks ~20 miles as the crow flies from there and remember even out there you could sometimes hear the rocket tests happening. The scary part about the site is how polluted it truly is but also how close urban sprawl has made peoples homes to it. I truly hope it can become clean enough to visit and becomes maybe a museum as lots of significant stuff did happen there
Not just forgotten history, but secret, hidden, history as well!
I live in Simi Valley, a couple of miles from SSFL. While the outline of this segment is accurate, it is hard to overstate the damage done by delays of cleanup by Boeing, abetted by the federal government and California regulators. There have been swarms of childhood cancers and miscarriages. I knew a woman who lived for years a few blocks from me who died riddled with cancer in her lungs and brain. More will die quietly and without much thought that SSFL was a major causal factor.
My mother was born and raised in Oxnard- in 1938... I was born in Pasedena in 1957. She was fairly healthy her whole life, but I have so many things amiss that even doctors shake their heads. No cancer so far though, thank God. But no one has been able to figure out how I got this way! Makes me wonder....
I worked there in the 1980's. My job was to keep brush down around fuel storage tanks, access roads, explosive bunkers in case of a fire.
They used the Explosives in one experiment that really fascinated me, So much so I tried to go to college to learn more about it. I just didn't have the grades. They had a machine that they would put certain types of metal into, Then they would use explosives to implode the metal. The one scientist that I talked with described it like this. It was like taking a golf ball size piece of metal and turning into a marble size piece of metal then they would examine the metals density. (I'm sure to make more lighter stronger metals).
One day I was driving down one of the roads and was pulled over to allow a forklift with a large (What looked like a 15 foot oxygen tank on it's forks) I asked the guy who told me to get off the road what the tank was. He told me it was a fuel rod for the reactor.
I seen them shoot off an engine one day, that was the most amazing thing I saw while I worked there.
The sound it made when they closed the valves to shut off the engine is where they got sound effect for Godzilla's cry. (I bet the history guy didn't know that)?
I was told if i ever heard the siren, that I would immediately go to the maintenance building. And one day it did go off. The stuff they had in the tanks needed to be kept at a very cold temp, and if it ever got to a certain warm temp it would become very unstable. Scared the living daylights out of me. But then I was 21 years old then.
Though I only worked there a short period of time, it is an experience that I would never forget.
Also, If you have studied the drainage maps of that ridge you will find that approximately 80% of the aquifer drains to the West side into Simi Valley.
It amazes me that Brandeis is still down there....they wont release testing information about their property from what I understand.
Holy Sh*t, I used to live about 2-3 miles away in Simi Valley. I would use the Santa Susana Pass daily for years. For at least 45 years has been used as a massive parkland. In addition, Bob Hope owed much of the area in Simi Valley just down from the Pass.
As always a professional educated presentation. Thank you! We must do something to get more young people listening to your unbiased presentations. I learn more in in 10 minutes from you than all the hours I spent in history pre-requirements lectures in pursuit of my education.
I'm reminded of the BOMARC missile controversy in Canada. IIRC, the grand plan was to replace the RCAF fighter wings with ground-launched BOMARC anti-aircraft missiles, but what made them so controversial was that they needed nuclear warheads - which no Canadian government was exactly anxious to store on Canadian soil. The tale also includes the controversial cancellation of the CF-105 Avro Arrow, which is a huge Canadian controversy to this very day - although all but the most ardent Arrow advocates seem to have forgotten BOMARC.
Bomark was a failure and a joke forced on Canada by us politicians
This is of interest to me, because a nearby nuclear facility (a sister to the Three-Mile Island plant) was shut down in the shadow of melt-down fears.
Once again, well-written, and well-presented.
What is the name of the the plant? What about Waltz Mill?
Bradley Greenwood - Do you mean the San Onofre Plant, south of Orange County on I-5?
I wouldn't be too worried about a nuclear meltdown. This was an experimental reactor with zero contamination dome and people seemingly flying by the seat of their pants doing experiments. Nuclear power is pretty damn safe, generally.
Thank you for talking about this , I live in Chatsworth Ca (right next to Canoga Park), every year to this day we get something in the mail saying dont let kids play in the dirt. The Chatsworth resivour is empty they say its because of the Northridge earthquake but this is the real reason. Its a big cover up that most people living in the valley below dont know about.
If you look up history of the Chatsworth Reservoir you'll find that they were digging a massive diversion ditch along the side of the reservoir abutting the hills at Valley Circle Drive -- in order to divert all the drainage coming down from the contaminated hills into the reservoir. The work stopped after the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake (not Northridge), when the reservoir was decommissioned and drained.
The Chatsworth reservoir was severely damaged during the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and can no longer retain water. Due to the expense of the repairs the reservoir was abandoned by the DWP for other (newer) water supply lines entering the San Fernando Valley.
@@josephrudolf1060 lots of natural clay beds are not too far. They spent millions on black rubber balls for the resinous along the 405, They cant just say we know the water is poison and gave many people cancer in the area.
I did not even think about that as the reason for the reservoir being empty...I'd also heard the quake BS. Makes total sense and I don't know why I didn't think that was the cause myself.
One of the very few channels to routinely have 0 dislikes for a video. Keep it up, I'll keep thumbing up.
BUT, as we now see....a few idiots hit the "dislike" button. Mother Theresa could have posted a video where she wishes everyone well....and some fool...somewhere.....would dislike it.....
Dumbasses are going to hit dislike just because you said that.
I've seen some videos on CZcams that state that a few dislikes are good in the sense of helping out your position in CZcams analytics.
Because Mother Theresa was an evil woman who liked people suffering, because god loved them to do so...
george martin mother theresa actually wasnt a very nice person lol
I have found Your Videos one of the most interesting programs on the internet. I lived in Simi Valley for a couple of years and listened to the medical stories of many people who worked there. They all had strange forms of Cancer. Other videos refer to this location as the site of the worst and most covered up nuclear disaster in the USA.
L.A.'s Secret Meltdown; Simi Valley, CA (1959) Largest Nuclear Incident in U.S. history.
I live a mile from the entrance gate to the laboratory in the Simi Hills on 120 acres. People in Simi Valley are still asking questions because of all the contradictory evidence that still comes from the site. Beautiful landscape where Hollywood made 1000's of western episodes on dozens of movie ranches in the area since the 20's. They ruined a wonderful piece of property.
The Charles Manson cave is about a mile in the opposite direction from me, along with the Lone Ranger Rock.
SO very interesting! Thank you so much for posting this video! This is an extremely interesting part or American History. The vast majority of people have no idea what has gone on behind closed doors, especially in areas that are now lived in by people that have no idea what was done there before they moved into the area. So much danger to people who have no idea the history of the area that they live in. It's sad that so many have no idea that they are living in an area that is so toxic. You are, as an extreme understatement, a breath of fresh air! So many toxic experiments, so little government response. We are as bad as the old Soviet Union, well, almost as bad. Pretty close. Both Governments have a huge amount of damage to the environment to account for. Thank you so much for your videos! You are magnifico! I think I spelled that right...
I grew up at the base of these mountains in Simi Valley. Which was untouched wilderness all the way up the hill. Only just in the last 10 years ive seen the mountain be scrapped about 3 feet of dirt downward all the way up the to the top of the mountain.
Yes! Canoga Park, CA. I lived 2 miles down the hill from this facility. Well after they had stopped Rocket Engine testing there of course. The roar of the engine tests were a common sound for us growing up here. TY THG
Thanks for the history. I am sure that there are lots of interesting stories about industrial history that you could dig into. In any case, I have enjoyed all of the stories that you have produced so far !!!
I remember seeing that plant in so many 70's TV shows. Bionic Woman, Shazam, Wonder Woman etc. It was used as a filming location for many TV shows!
that’s not good at all if it’s really as radioactive as they say why would they film anywhere near it
I've lived in Canoga Park for 25 years. My wife's family has been here since the late 40s. A lot of the old timers in Canoga Park well remember the testing at the Rocketdyne facility. Many and I mean many of the workers in that facility have died of various forms of cancer. Too many by mere chance. And make no mistake about it the area is still contaminated e.g. the south end of Simi Valley, the Santa Susanna Hills. Bell Canyon and Dalton Canyon were the runoff basins for the drainage from Rocketdyne and builders have no problem building there. I'm not quite sure if the buyers truly understand what they're getting into. The water table is still contaminated. I have been in that facility many times, they give tours a couple of times a year. The facility can also be seen from various hiking trails in the area. Of course LA being LA they are looking to build houses in the facility. The idea is being fiercely contested by various groups. As a side note there is a petroglyph cave in the area which is exquisite. The fight to retain the area as a park continues.
Nick Maggiore And they're trying to mitigate the soil at Rocketdyne's old Canoga Park plant, now owned by Westfield Shoppingtown.
I grew up in Canoga Park as well. I lived at Orcutt Ranch Park. I have lost most of my family to cancer
@@estherramirez2815 so sorry to hear about your family. I grew up off of fallbrook right down the street from you. I remember hearing the rockets and seeing the chemtrails in the sky. Back then nobody knew any better. My father did some work in the old rocketdyne facility and he had to where lead suits while he was working. Now its Devry I believe. 50 children in a 2 mile radius close to the ssfl have cancer and its just swept under the rug. Its so sad. There is no history of cancer in my family and my uncle was diagnosed twice, he lives in Simi. luckily he is in remission but who knows what is coming for me or my family. As much as I love where I grew up it's time to move.
A geiger counter obtained on ebay will quickly tell you about any radioactive decay in the residential neighborhoods. Most of those elements and their isotopes produced in those accidents are more than likely gone. Most have very short half-life.
Invest in a decent detector instrument and you can quickly tell what is what in your area.
I carry one because we have facilities here that are similar. In one case they melted down a reactor on purpose to see what would happen.
Very few people know about this incident.
It pays to check and to be certain... especially where there were projects done many decades ago.
Workers at rocketdyne or the nuclear reactor?
Excellent. I especially like that way that you make room for the the very real possibility that chemical disposal at the site is a strong contender for potential health effects associated with the site. While the partial meltdown of that experimental reactor core may not have helped, I suspect that random disposal of various dangerous chemicals by burning at LOW temperature, seems like a more likely smoking gun based on the limited information available.
Another fine video about history that deserves to be remembered.
I lived about a mile from the SSFL from 1960-1964. We would hear the rocket engine tests all the time. We were also told that what they were doing involved secret government projects. So interesting to learn about this part of my childhood.
To David Zybert:
Yes, I lived there from about '62 to '67. Rocketdyne's rocket motor tests were all we knew about, up over the hill from my neighborhood. Nothing nuclear. None of us minded the great roar. That seemed to be national security at work. And the Space Race. Cool stuff.
And sonic booms. Now, no young person knows what a sonic boom is today. But we lost no windows so they were great. Many years later I married a wonderful girl from Rhodesia. Once when the Shuttle was going to land at Edwards AFB we were reminded there were going to be sonic booms, according to the news. That really scared my wife. She couldn't understand what was so "great" about it. But it was a revived memory for me.
Later we moved to the mountains near JPL. Interesting stories -- but no big noises.
And a few of us do remember.
@@michaeldougfir9807 - Ahhh, the double sonic boom of the Shuttle! I miss that.
My friends and I were in our late teens and we used to go exploring in the areas around LA. Once we followed a little used track that wound through rocky country. It went on for a long way, and was like driving through a canyon of huge boulders. Finally, we arrived at a locked gate, and we could see rocket engines bolted to huge rocks for testing. We didn't see anyone, but we beat a hasty retreat. This would have been in the early sixties. It was not uncommon to see rocket launches in LA. I saw one once that looked like a twenty mile wide jellyfish of rainbow colours. Spectacularly beautiful, it was the blast radius of a stage separation.
I was four months old and lived less than a mile away when the sodium reactor melted down, and you are correct; there was no evacuation, no announcement, no warnings regarding fallout accumulation or well water contamination. So, for my family life continued as normal until my wonderful grandmother developed stomach cancer a few years later. I have no doubt her cancer resulted from drinking the well water, and milk from dairy cows that grazed across the street. I did not find out about the accidents and chemical spills at the site for 30 years. The loss of my grandmother, as well as the long term effects on my health have been substantial irreplaceable losses, and due to my lack of awareness of the situation I was not part of the class action lawsuit, though a settlement would only ease my current hardship and not replace that which the decision to hide the incidents from the public took away from my life, and the lives of the neighbors I had growing up in that location. Government secrecy, in my estimation, most often results in a long term negative effect for the public, despite it's short term benefits.
I suppose my grandmother could be considered an unaware conscripted soldier and casualty of the Cold War. I wonder how many other Americans are considered conscripts in the text of policy decisions they would not support if they were aware it existed? It is because of the existence of this kind of disparity between the will of the people and hidden policy that history like what transpired at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory deserves to be remembered. Thank you for your hard work!
I just discovered your channel in the past week or so. This is one of my favorite channels on the Tube. I have always tried to discuss history with my two sons. I am looking forward to the times when we can all watch the channel together. Great job and I love your office memorabilia!
I thought our little secret nuclear laboratory was a big deal - the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory outside Dawsonville, GA. GNAL was a drop in the bucket with SSFL being the bucket.
Eh... not really. Ssfl doesn’t even make it onto the NPL (National Priorities List/Superfund for toxic cleanup). If the govt tried to cover this up they didn’t do a very good job- it was public knowledge when I was young.
Lived Granada Hills moved there 1954.Graduated from that High School.1961.
i remember hearing the rockets as a kid living on the southern edge of simi. shit it made my house shake a little bit, used to spend time up in those hills a lot and there always was a feel about the place that i can't describe
I grew up in the San Fernando valley during the 1970's, just a few miles from Rocketdyne and Santa Susana. I can remember times when rocket motors were being tested up in the Pass. It could be heard for miles. Rocketdyne is long gone--it's a shopping mall now.
Adam Goatfish Their current owners, Aerojet, moved the Rocketdyne assembly plant to a building on DeSoto Av between Parthenia and Nordhoff. They're currently producing more RS-25 engines (SSMEs) for the Space Launch System's first core stage.
Hmm, I grew up in Simi Valley, just the other side of this thing and I'm recovering from cancer now...When we went "to town" we called it "going over the hill", but I never knew exactly why. Spahn Ranch was at the foot of this place. Hmm again...
My dad and brother worked on the Hill. Dad talked about one of the melt downs, and also about an employee that died of radiation exposure. He said they had to shower and change clothes when leaving for the day. The employee that passed apparently had also showered but wore the same socks home that that was where the exposure came from. Apparently the clothes hamper was "hot". So dad always had spare socks in the glove box.
I’m a Granddaughter of a SSL victim. Currently undergoing genetic counseling to see how the SSL incident affected me personally. Compensation should be coming from Boeing for our suffering.
I am so happy I came across this video. My grandfather worked on the site as a U.S. Army missile technician from 48-51. He had some amazing stories from his time there.
Wow ! Speechless. A lot to think about there. At each step in the decision making process, one has to ask " is this right or wrong?" One has to weigh so many complex inter-connected variables. We are forced to ask ourselves so many questions but are only given a fantastically delivered history lesson dripping with wit, humor/sarcasm, and wisdom-- instead of being fed the answers. Well done THG
My sister lived near this site and died of ovarian cancer, the only one in the history of our family. Some people wonder why California today has such strict environmental laws, well this is one reason. LA has grown right up against the testing grounds because they were assured that there was no danger. How often have we heard this before? California is the state with the most environmental disasters! From hydraulic gold mining, the Salton Sea flood, land fills in San Francisco, petroleum refineries and well drilling, to reservoir dams breaking, California has seen it all!
I love it. Short & to the point. Been researching this subject for 5 yrs
As always, great video. Not sure if you'd be interested (especially since you've already covered a number of these), but the SL-1 nuclear accident, which happened a little under two years after the SSFL accident, might make for a good video. It has a lot going for it (as a story). There's intrigue (questions about the motivations of at least one of the crew members). And, of course, it's the only U.S. reactor accident that resulted in immediate deaths from the explosion that was caused (one of which is quite a bit gruesome, though -- might be a bit much). But, most interesting of all were the lengths and out-of-the-box thinking that was required to contain and clean up the accident without causing a second explosion.
I've always had a personal interest in learning about nuclear weapon and power plant safety failures. I was a missile technician in the Navy (I worked on the Trident 1 and Poseidon C-4); and I later worked as a welder for Newport News Shipbuilding (helping to build or repair nuclear reactor containment rooms for both new production as well as refueling overhauls for several different vessels.
The Bonesaw .. yes, SL-1 is on the list- thanks!
longreads.com/2017/09/05/atomic-city/ -- Cool... you might be interested in this then. It seems more conjecture than history to me, but I found it intriguing nonetheless. The military has often fielded wild theories and created scapegoats out of whole-cloth in the course of solving various "investigations" (The USS Iowa's turret explosion springs immediately to mind).
The History Guy: Five Minutes of History There is an AEC film about the accident and clean up that you should be able to easily find on the internet. My nuclear engineering professor at Oregon State University a long time ago was involve in the design work of this reactor. The big problem was the use of a boron plate control rod. Helium is produced when boron undergoes neutron bombardment. Being a gas in a metal, swelling eventually happens. So the thought was this boron control rod became stuck when the man was pulling it out for maintenance work. He gave it a really hard pull and it jerked loose and moved very qickly,. Some water was still in the vessel by accident and the sudden movement of the unstuck boron control rod cause enough neutrons to be moderated with resulting fissions that the reactor went prompt critical, vaporizing the water in an entergetic steam explosion. The combination of high radiation from the reactor going prompt critical and the force of the steam killed two of the 3 men instantly. The thrid man was not next to the reactor and was found alive by first responders. He was able to say something about what happened but he too died from the radiation exposure from the accident. All three were supposidly buried in special lead coffins. Another profeesor I had later in graduate school was one of the many health physics professional that worked the cleanup afterwards. Let me know if you need any other information about this.
The SL-1 accident was well chronicled in John Fuller’s 1975 book, “We Almost Lost Detroit”. Two other interesting and insightful books by James Mahaffey are: “Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima and, “Atomic Adventures, Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science”. The two books provide a glimpse into the awful results of man’s hubris, carelessness, and short sightedness, when it comes to calamity, pollution, the unfortunate results of Murphy’s Law as applied to nuclear and toxic accidents. All three are interesting reads. John Fuller’s later books on this topic are interesting and well meant. However his conclusions may be a bit “knee-jerk” and dated for the present. You decide…
Also worth noting that our area (Simi/Moorpark/etc) is part of the flight path every jet passes over when landing at (flight pattern recently changed- used to be when taking off from) LAX airport.
There’s quite a bit of data (save for the landfill) readily available for anyone in these communities who are genuinely worried about their health.
Also- thanks for a great video! I like (and subscribed to) your channel!
Departing traffic from LAX goes west over the ocean...incoming from the east on a 270 heading...not over Simi
Wow. I lived in Canoga Park and didn't know anything about the history of the land. Scary.
They should be going after the greedy real-estate developers who developed the land around a NUCLEAR TEST FACILITY !!!!!!!
What could possibly go wrong? And lets not forget about the authorities who approved the development just to get more tax revenue.
Those people are sick because of greed. ..... just my humble opinion.
miscellaneousone+ But greed is the main driver of most development, sadly it is also the downfall of most societies
Dear july8xx: Although you are correct in stating that greed is the main driver of most development, that doesn't mean that it must be that way. Look at the great scientists of the Scientific Revolution like Galileo & Newton. They never made a penny directly from their work. Deguerre invented the first camera in the 1830's, yet gave away the design to the public instead of getting a patent & getting rich. Greed on a societal level seems to be much more a product of the Capitalist system of economics that started to engulf mankind only since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700's in England.
I wish you would bite em'. 😾
This didn't happen 5 years ago.
Back then regular people had no idea how bad radiation really was. It was the job of the federal government to block those developments. Something I doubt they wanted to do since this was national security and I doubt they wanted the attention.
@@lordgarion514 etc. Drives
Thank-you very much for doing an excellent informational video on the early days of aerospace and rocket technology during the early space exploration ventures, among the other related subjects!
I lived in the Simi Valley in the 1960s and RocketDyne tested rocket engines. When they did so at night lit up the whole valley. Some times there was a thunderous roar with no flame apparent.
Another great video! Cold War era aerospace and science experimentation may be my favorite subject of discussion. You could talk about programs NA Aviation had going on in those times for years and never get half of the things they were involved in out haha! Sad that company became a "was" instead of remaining "is".
I'd kinda like to see a video about...The History Guy - what is your story, what is the story about the hats and other items in the background? I think that would be just as interesting!
I was a kid in the mid San Fernando Valley in the '50s and '60s, I remember hearing the distant roar of rocket tests and sometimes seeing a glow over the hills to the west. Nothing said about nuclear reactors.
Similar thing is currently unfolding in St. Louis, as an underground landfill fire approaches a large radioactive dump buried right next door to it. Material left over from Mallinckrodt corporation involvement during the Manhattan Project. In fact, the subject of the history surrounding Americas toxic sites would make a great video in itself.
This is a little off topic from this video but the reference to aviation made me think of it. I read something about aviation navigation lights and concrete markers to help mail planes in the 20’s find their way across the country. The pilots would fly from light to light at night. Would you be able to do a five minute video on this part of aviation history.
I remember watching a program on one of the Discovery channels where the showed these arrows and supposedly educated people pontificated on what they were for. BTW they were funded by congress through the U.S. Post office budge for the Transcontinental Air Mail System.
In the Anza Borrego desert of San Diego - Imperial county there are still BIG cement arrows to guide US mail planes and other low flying planes
Little known fact is that the general area that this site is in is also home of the movie ranch that Charlie Manson and his cult lived at during his reign of terror.
Yup- Spahn Movie Ranch is also in the Santa Susana Mountains.
I think that Manson was well on his was to being insane well before he moved to the Spahn Ranch area. That said, there is something about that area that is strange...could be that there is something there that could cause abnormal actions on an individuals part...
The History Guy: Five Minutes of History And Iverson Movie Ranch South and Corriganville Movie Ranch.
I used to rent horses from them during that time for trail rides. And one of my high school teachers was one of the ones who raided the ranch and arrested them for the car theft ring.
Wow. I just got a bit more history today in the comments alone. Thanks.
Once again a very interesting and informative video. Thank you!
I have found myself binge watching your videos lately.... 😅😃
I would like to make one little suggestion:
get yourself a lavalier microphone. It will improve sound quite a bit. Not that it is ‚bad‘, considering some of the other videos out there by other people that were apparently filmed with a potato using sound that comes out of a rusty bucket. I know full well that I am ‚complaining‘ of a very (very!) high level here, so as I said: it is only a suggestion.
Quite a few have mentioned it. I have a good camera with a quality built in microphone, but I understand that I can improve sound quality.
Yeah, no need to mention you have a history degree. You know what you're doing!
Many thanks!
Shooting barrels of toxic materials with riffles until they explode...
It's amazing that with all the technology & the knowledge of engineering, that it is always the waste of development that seems to do a substantial amount of harm...
Rockefeller in his quest for kerosene, as a source of clean burning lantern fuel, replacing a depleted source of whale oil, dumped nearly all byproducts into local waterways, before the gasoline burning internal combustion engine came along.
It amazes me, that all that planning, all the preparation that goes into the technologies of today, and it is the waste that garners the least amount of respect.
TWO GOLD TOOFAS - there is a little hillbilly in everyone) even rocket scientists. .
Sadly, they have recently demolished the venerable Rocketdyne-Boeing Facility in Canoga Park.
I believe a friend of mine worked there, for Litton. She has since retired, and doesn't seem to have any medical problems.
Lived and went to Jr Hi and High School right up the street from Rocketdyne. 'Still remember the rocket engine testing. Thanks
That is one fantastic tie! I love it.
I'm so glad you included a picture of the XB-70 when talking about NAA planes in the cold war!
I have vague memories of Walter Cronkite talking about the 3 mile island meltdown where 51% of the core melted down.
Thank you for the videos. I always look forward to seeing the next one.
Really love your videos! You should research the Swedish naval ship, Wasa , that sank on the maiden voyage just outside the harbour in 1628. It was salvage in 1962 and , as far as i know, the onöy 17th century ship ever salvaged. It is now preserved in a museum. I think you will find the history facinating. Would love to hear your take on it 😊 greets from a big fan.
I very much want to see that museum- the photographs are amazing.
The History Guy: Five Minutes of History
Thanks for taking the time to look it up 😊
When I was a physics student in the 1970's in Chicago, I had a summer job at Argonne National Laboratory, putting together computer equipment for the "Core Components Test Loop for the Liquid Sodium Fast Breeder Reactor". What I didn't realize until I later moved to Thousand Oaks was that my summer project work may have ended up at SSFL nearby! By the way, my picture is of me hiking in the Simi Hills, about 5 miles west of SSFL.
Wow.. thank you man
Doc. Volt you
I grew up in Canoga Park, just out side of the 2 mile circle of the SSFL. I used to play in bell creek, in the nuclear run-off. I guess I'll look for a class action suit to join.
what a trip.... I grew up in Canoga Park in the sixties. we used to watch the rocket testing all the time. Never heard about the nuclear stuff before.
I even did some kind of construction job at this location for just a few weeks in the late 70s
My Hometown Lakeview Oregon had an Uranium processing plant and 2 Large Mines in the Mountains north of Town ,They did a Superfund Cleanup at the mines and where they dumped the slurry on the flats north of the plant ,We have clusters of rare forms of cancer not seen anywhere else in America ...
Santa Susana full of archaeological sites. It's a protected archaeological site as well as a HAZMAT site, now. There is rock art and are rock shelters there. George Air Force Base in Victorville is another HAZMAT site near population they used to decontaminate aircraft that flew threw the Nevada Test Range and the whole military housing area is contaminated and they had the burn pits for radioactive materials as well. Work on environmental remediation in SoCal. The Long Beach Children's Hospital is built on a benzene seep.
The facility is actually closer to Northridge than Canoga Park. Santa Susana Pass connects the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, and contains the county line between Los Angeles County and Ventura County. There are many old motion picture ranch facilities in the area, and indeed one of those is the Spahn Ranch where the Manson Family was living when they perpetrated the Tate/LaBianca Murders and were subsequently arrested. In the 1980's, I lived in a condo in Simi Valley, not far from the test facility. Periodically, they would test fire Space Shuttle engines, causing glass in the windows to violently shake.
You got it backwards, canoga park is closer to s.s.f.l. than Northridge which is north of reseda.
Is that a skull under an air force hat just behind you? Nice touch.
The end of this video made me think of the Love Canal trajedy in Upstate, NY. Not related exactly, but could make for a cool episode!
How great was North American Aviation? Most aircraft they produced were classics.
Choco Latte so good Australia made 3 , a variant of the T6 called the wirraway , Mustangs and Sabres
I grew up in LA from 1960 to 1988 and never heard of any of this . yeah whata kids know or care and fortunatly i was in the south bay but did live for a time in canoga park yet was still oblivious. Thanks again Rich /San Jose
Random facts about this area: 1. The skull of the large Tyrannosaurus rex at the Field Museum, "Sue," was CT scanned at Rocketdyne there in 1998. 2. Some of the facilities there were used in television series. The building where the Sue skull was scanned was once a sound stage for 'The Six Million Dollar Man." I experienced a rocket test when I was there (I was the post-doc who worked on Sue), and I'll never forget it.
thoroughly enjoy most of your videos, At 83 years old I can remember a lot of them, having lived doring yheir time.
As boys in the 1960's we called it Rocketdyn. My father, occasionally worked there as did the man across the street. We rode our horses there to the movie sets, that were in the same hills. Charley Manson used to hang out there in Box canyon... lots of Jimson weed growing in that area. I have no health problems.
Very good work on your documentaries..Thank you for the effort and research you've invested in your vids, and awesome soundtrack.
Atrocious behavior by governments like this definitely need to be remembered and contemplated often.
Or until your lights go out because nobody is generating electricity.
@@johnscallan5648 CANCER & FOREVER NUCLEAR WASTE FOR #ENERGY? NO THANKS! SMELLS LIKE SOMEONES SUBSIDIZED #CATCH22 FOR JOB SECURITY KILLING #ECOLOGY AND #HEALTH UNDER THE REIGN OF A FASCIST OLIGARCHY
@@DgurlSunshine The cap lock is over on the left side. Dork.
@@johnscallan5648 The typical response of someone who has no valid response to a legitimate argument is the use of _ad hominem_ such as we see you use here. Insulting and ridiculing the person instead of the argument is the clearest sign that the argument is correct...
@@lancer525 Troll!
Interesting information
Amazing , right under our nose !
in 1959, at two years old, my family moved to Woodland Hills. We were 4.2 miles, line of sight, from the reactor, according to Google Maps.
I was two when we moved there and 11 when we left. But I have nothing from then. If anything I went the other way. I have overcome a stroke and a decade of major depression after dropping the meds. I had a four way bypass last year and have taken no meds for over a year now.
So, I guess I got the super power of healing my own issues.
Mr History Guy... Interesting story. Do you know about the Aerojet facility built in the edge of the Florida Everglades in the '60's? The idea was to put it out where no one could see it or visit it. It tested and built built Saturn rockets and floated them down a canal yp the ocean and then up to Cape Kennedy. It was abandoned on a moment's notice, and even now is spewing a lot of pollution into the envirornment.. The canal which drains southeast to the ocean is still ecological disaster for the Everglades.
They would light up the night sky when I was a kid living in Encino.
My father was a Nuclear Engineer at the sight working for Atomics International. I visited the site many times as we belonged to the Rifle and Shotgun club there. He was involved with the accident on the sodium reactor and was responsible for designing and implementing the clean up. I once accompanied him into the reactor and saw the fuel storage tank were the fuel rods were kept under water with a weird blue glow. None of my family or my father had any health effects. My father passed away at the age of 86 from natural causes. We felt the rocket tests at our house in Chatsworth all the time. As a matter of fact we thought the huge Sylmar earthquake was just another Saturn 5 test until it got real bad. This was normal life in the Chatsworth area growing up.
Why would you move next to such a complex? I guess for the same reason they build next to Airports, Railroads and roadway and then complain about the noise, thank for the lesson.
Because the site's presence and practice was not presented to home buyers back then, just like the way the site is hidden from prospective home buyers of property in modern housing developments in adjoining areas today!!
During the cold war the government often did not advertise highly classified projects.
Nobody knew about the reactors. We only heard that it was a rocket engine test facility.
Perhaps the government allowed people to live near these sites, because to cordon off the whole area from the public would have drawn attention to it and made the Soviets suspicious about the true nature of the site. Just throwin' one out there....
Mike B. - Other than the covered-up nuclear incident, Simi Valley and surroundings are a great place to live! It's isolated from the hectic vibe of LA and the San Fernando Valley, it's peaceful, it gets ocean air many afternoons, the people out in Simi/Moorpark/West SFV are by and large wonderful. What could go wrong?
Thank you so much for the content you bring to CZcams. Your in depth knowledge and extremely high production value bring life and light to history. Great job, thank you!
...........In 1961, I lived on Topanga Canyon Blvd in Chatsworth, right next to the railroad tracks. And across Topanga from Rancho San Antonio Home for Boys run by the Catholic Jesuit Brothers/Priests. Anytime we heard the rockets at Rocketdyne start up usually in the afternoon or evening, and start to rumble, we would run outside to feel the shaking of the ground and air, and see the flames of the rocket engines flare up into the sky above the rocky Santa Susana Mts. It was exciting to us kids. Our Cub Scout, and Boy Scout Troops went on field trips up there to see the Field Laboratory. And got to see tests taking place from behind the barriers. Later in 62, I lived over in Canoga in a relatively new housing subdivision, and went to Columbus Junior High. And still, in the afternoons or evenings several times a week we would hear the rockets engines starting to roar, and feel the ground shake, and watch the flames shoot up over the rocky hills of SS. We kids were proud to be so close to all the science and technology happening around us, and many of us dreamed of growing up and being part of it.......Then growing older, finding girls fascinating, and the importance of money and cars to accomplish things. In 64 I got in trouble stealing cars, and ended up in Rancho San Antonio home for Boys on Topanga in Chatsworth across from where I had lived four years earlier, and again I listened to the sound of the testing up in the hills, and the roar of the engines, and the flames shooting up towards the sky. Pretty soon Rocketdyne became unimportant, while Vietnam became all the news and life around us.....And soon I headed off like so many others to the military, and the war in Vietnam. And life was forever different......
Minor correction; the Doolittle Raid was 18 Apr 1942.
sorry, my mistake
The gate on the road to the place was typically unlocked until 1970. I lived in Simi Valley and the area in question was great for hiking. "nearby city of Moorpark". Moorrpark is easily 30 miles (as the crow flies) from Santa Susana. Why not send the power to Simi Valley (same direction but much closer) These rocket tests livened up a boring day of elementary schooling in the San Fernando Valley. The tests could be heard all across the valley.