Environmental Monitoring History
In the mid 1950s, Atomics International, then a Division of North American Aviation, began initial plans for nuclear research at its facilities in the west San Fernando Valley what today is the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL). In 1956, prior to initial operations, it began an ambitious monitoring program to baseline, and then to track, potential changes in environmental levels of radioactivity in and around its facilities.
During the 50 plus year history of nuclear research and later environmental restoration, on-site and off-site environmental monitoring and media sampling has been extensive as shown on this sampling map. In the early years, soil and vegetation sampling was conducted on a monthly basis as far west as the Moorpark freeway, as far north as the Simi Valley freeway, as far east as Reseda, and as far south as the Ventura freeway. Soil, vegetation, and water samples were also taken around the Canoga and De Soto facilities, and around the Chatsworth Reservoir. This extensive off-site sampling program was terminated in 1989 when all nuclear research and operations except cleanup came to an end.
During the 1990s, extensive media sampling programs were conducted on the northern neighbors, including the Brandies-Bardin Institute and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the neighbors to the south, the Boeing Recreation Center in West Hills, various private homes in the Chatsworth and West Hills areas, and places further away such as Wildwood Park and Tapia Park.
Boeing has not been alone in conducting this off site sampling. Independent sampling has been performed by eighteen different organizations. Click here for a table of what was sampled by these organizations.
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