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Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL)

USA / California / Simi Valley / Woolsey Canyon Road
 pollution, nuclear testing area

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL-Rocketdyne) is a once prolific rocket and nuclear reactor test facility located 30 miles (48 km) north of downtown Los Angeles, California. SSFL continues to operate today, serving as a research facility for The Boeing Company. The first commercial nuclear-power producing reactor (the Sodium Reactor Experiment) inside the United States was built at SSFL. The SRE came online in April of 1957, and began feeding electricity to the grid on July 12, 1957. The reactor powered over 1,100 homes in the Moorpark area of California for a short period of time. SSFL, however, also became home to the first meltdown of a power-producing reactor in the United States on July 13, 1959. Today, all nuclear research and most rocket testing has been halted.

Various research initiatives, such as the development of the Saturn rockets that powered the Apollo missions, the rockets that powered the vast ballistic missile arsenal of the United States during the Cold War years, and even a program to develop nuclear reactors for use in outer space were undertaken at the facility.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°13'39"N   118°41'45"W

Comments

  • bg (guest)
    The nuclear tests at this facility include two landmark events. 1. On December 24, 1958 the world's first nuclear power plant at this site generated electricity that was used to provide power to the then unincorporated area of Moorpark for some portion of the day. 2. On July 26, 1959 this same nuclear reactor experienced a partial meltdown, releasing an untold amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Boeing will not release any information about this event, going so far as having the NOAA suppress wind-speed and wind-direction data for the days surrounding the meltdown. This well-hidden event occurred about 20 years before the now-famous Three Mile Island incident. Links: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00003&segmentID=1 http://www.lutins.org/nukes.html
This article was last modified 1 year ago