nuclear-news

Cover-up of radiation hazard at children’s holiday camp in Southern California

LA’s Nuclear Secret: Camp Cover-Up,  The popular 2,800-acre Southern California camp sits just over the hill from the Santa Susana Field Lab NBC News By Joel Grover and Matthew Glasser Tens of thousands of children who attended a popular camp in the hills northwest of Los Angeles over the last 65 years may have been exposed to radioactive waste and toxic chemicals from a former nuclear and rocket testing facility right next door, the Santa Susana Field Lab, according to documents and scientific studies obtained by the NBC4 I-Team.

LA’s Nuclear Secret: Timelines, Maps, Documents, Interviews

Families who sent their kids to the camp, as well as former camp staff and board members, say top leadership, including a famous TV personality, covered up evidence of the risk and continue to hide important information.

“It’s criminal not to disclose this,” said Erwin Sokol, a counselor at the camp in the 1950s, who later sent his own kids there, and whose wife Caren served on the board of directors. “There are people’s lives at risk.”

Sokol is referring to the Brandeis-Bardin Institute next to Simi Valley, a world famous center for Jewish learning, which runs Camp Alonim for kids and teens and hosts retreats for college students and adults. Purchased in 1947, the 2,800-acre camp is believed to be the largest piece of Jewish-owned land outside of Israel. It sits just over the hill from the Santa Susana Field Lab.

Former Santa Susana Field Lab workers told NBC4 during our LA’s Nuclear Secret investigation that for years, barrels of radioactive waste were burned in a pit right above the Brandeis property, and the radioactive smoke often blew toward the camp.

Workers also told the I-Team how they were ordered to secretly release radioactive gases into the air from crippled nuclear reactors, often when the wind was blowing the gases toward Brandeis and Simi Valley. John Pace, who worked the controls of one of the reactors, told NBC4, “The truth needs to be told” about the secret releases of radiation.

Families Ask I-Team to Investigate Over a dozen former Brandeis senior staff, camp families and board members told the I-Team they tried for years to find out the truth about potential contamination at Brandeis, but were stonewalled by the Institute’s top leaders.

“This is about protecting the health of children,” said Erwin Sokol.

So they asked the I-Team to investigate. Contamination at Brandeis

The I-Team found reports, studies and tests that show campers and staff could have been exposed to radioactive materials and toxic chemicals from the Santa Susana lab that migrated onto the Brandeis property through groundwater, surface water and wind.

Buried away at a National Archives warehouse in Riverside County, the I-Team found a 1997 report done by a scientist, Joel Cehn, who has worked for by Brandeis for years to monitor contamination on its land.

In the report, Cehn writes that after reviewing studies of Brandeis, in his opinion, “Brandeis property is contaminated… with radiological and chemical contaminants. Contaminated groundwater is moving toward the center of the Brandeis property (from south to north).”

Cehn also says, “Surface water, when present, also moves toward the center of Brandeis… some of this water is contaminated with tritium, strontium-90 and dioxins. Soil on the Brandeis property is contaminated… During rainwater runoff events, this soil is carried… to central and northern areas of the Brandeis property. Vegetation on the Brandeis property is contaminated.”

A Cover-Up

“If I had seen this document, I would not have taken the job,” said Rabbi Lee Bycel, who became president of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in 2000 and served until 2003………

Toxic Water……..

Toxic Soil   Brandeis own internal 1997 report, written by their consultant Joel Cehn, said “soil on the Brandeis property is contaminated with tritium, strontium-90, cesium-137, PCB, dioxins, toluene, and petroleum hydrocarbons.”…..

Brandeis Declines to Speak to NBC4   The I-Team requested an interview with the current owners of Brandeis, the American Jewish University, to discuss the contamination.……     Brandeis Withholds Key Documents……. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/I-Team-LAs-Nuclear-Secret-Camp-Cover-Up-344006382.html

November 13, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | children, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA