Deny Renewal of Rockwell Nuclear License, Foes Plead

Opponents of nuclear projects at Rockwell International’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory on Thursday night implored federal officials to deny the aerospace firm’s request for renewal of its radioactive materials license and called on Rockwell “to clean up and clear out” the nuclear part of its business.

At a public hearing at the State Office Building in Van Nuys attended by 150 people, speaker after speaker attacked Rockwell’s credibility, and argued that nuclear work should not be done in a densly populated area.

Don Wallace, a Calabasas resident and spokesman for the Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition, told federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission Administrative Judge Peter B. Block that the group opposes the relicensing “because we think that our property values, our physical, emotional and psychological health are more important than the equity of Rockwell stockholders.”

Rocketdyne is the division of Rockwell that operates the lab on a rugged plateau in the Simi Hills three miles west of Chatsworth.

Barbara Johnson, president of the Susana Knolls Homeowners Assn., whose members live close to the research site, said local residents, until recently, were generally unaware of Santa Susana’s nuclear mission. They knew it “simply as ‘the place that tested rockets and made all those roaring noises,” she said. “Now we fear the silent threat of contamination from radioactive and toxic materials. What we don’t know frightens and concerns us.”

Each of the first dozen speakers assailed Rockwell’s relicensing request, except for a company official who drew a smattering of applause when he told of moving his family to the area several years ago.

Dr. Joseph Mills said he would not have moved “into this area if I didn’t believe it was totally safe.”

Bloch, who will rule on Rockwell’s license request, said the hearing was informal and will not be part of the record on which his decision is based. At a second Van Nuys hearing, scheduled to begin in the State Office Building at 9:30 a.m. today, the judge will consider whether to grant opponents intervenor status, which would allow them to present evidence and file rebuttals to the company’s case.

Rockwell has used the lab to “declad,” or dismantle, nuclear fuel for the Energy Department’s weapons program. The firm, seeking a 10-year license extension, maintains the lab poses no hazard.