A new study has shown that radioactive emissions from a 1959 nuclear accident at a Boeing Co. research lab near Simi Valley, California, could have caused hundreds of cancers in surrounding communities. Chemical contamination from rocket engine testing at the site appears to have been much greater than previously suspected and continues to threaten soil and groundwater in the area around Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The nuclear meltdown, which remained virtually unknown to the public until 1979, could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer "over a period of many decades," the study concluded.
The five-year study was conducted by an independent team of scientists and health experts.
