Nuclear Meltdown
Nuclear Meltdown
Throughout human history, there have been and continues to be scandals and cover-ups made by the government and city officials to save their own behinds. Where have all the honest people gone? No matter what the case maybe, money and a good reputation seem to prevail over the cost innocent lives. In 1959, Rocketdyne, a rocket-testing company in the Santa Susana Hills of Simi Valley had a meltdown. Although Rocketdyne representatives deny that the incident caused any type of harm, the truth is, the meltdown contaminated the area and is responsible for hundreds of cancers and health illnesses. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, also known as Rocketdyne, was built in 1984 by North American Aviation consisting of 2,850 acres in Eastern Ventura County. Over the years, it has been used as a test site for experiments involving nuclear reactors, high-powered lasers, and rockets. In the 1959 meltdown, "an estimated 13,000 curies of iodine-131 and 2,600 curies of cesium-137 escaped fro the reactor" (Rutshman). Iodine-131 is a radioactive form of iodine and is produced in nuclear reactors when uranium is split. This form of iodine is very radioactive and very dangerous. Once this chemical is entered into the body, the radiation damages the thyroid, increasing the risk of cancer at a very high rate. Although radioactivity can only live for eight days, it is enough time to get into the local water supply and dairy cows. Therefore contaminating the water and milk supply. It 's entirely possible that the reported 260 cancers were most likely caused by the release of radioactive materials. Just as a restaurant would like to hide any accidents that take place in its kitchen, Rocketdyne tried to cover-up the meltdown as being nothing more than a "small" incident or boo-boo it had made. For almost forty-five years, the public accepted the false theory that no one was harmed by the nuclear meltdown. Boeing, a main representative for Rocketdynes
Throughout human history, there have been and continues to be scandals and cover-ups made by the government and city officials to save their own behinds. Where have all the honest people gone? No matter what the case maybe, money and a good reputation seem to prevail over the cost innocent lives. In 1959, Rocketdyne, a rocket-testing company in the Santa Susana Hills of Simi Valley had a meltdown. Although Rocketdyne representatives deny that the incident caused any type of harm, the truth is, the meltdown contaminated the area and is responsible for hundreds of cancers and health illnesses. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, also known as Rocketdyne, was built in 1984 by North American Aviation consisting of 2,850 acres in Eastern Ventura County. Over the years, it has been used as a test site for experiments involving nuclear reactors, high-powered lasers, and rockets. In the 1959 meltdown, "an estimated 13,000 curies of iodine-131 and 2,600 curies of cesium-137 escaped fro the reactor" (Rutshman). Iodine-131 is a radioactive form of iodine and is produced in nuclear reactors when uranium is split. This form of iodine is very radioactive and very dangerous. Once this chemical is entered into the body, the radiation damages the thyroid, increasing the risk of cancer at a very high rate. Although radioactivity can only live for eight days, it is enough time to get into the local water supply and dairy cows. Therefore contaminating the water and milk supply. It 's entirely possible that the reported 260 cancers were most likely caused by the release of radioactive materials. Just as a restaurant would like to hide any accidents that take place in its kitchen, Rocketdyne tried to cover-up the meltdown as being nothing more than a "small" incident or boo-boo it had made. For almost forty-five years, the public accepted the false theory that no one was harmed by the nuclear meltdown. Boeing, a main representative for Rocketdynes
Cited: Avi Rutshman. "Study of contamination at rocket lab site reveals evidence of Cancer link." [Online]. http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2006 Living on Earth. "A Nuclear Incident Worse than Three Mile Island." [online] 20 January 2006. http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?