Year-Long Investigation into LA’s Nuclear Secrets

All five parts of this ground-breaking investigative series can be watched by clicking here.

In 2015, The investigative team from NBC4 Los Angeles, led by producers Joel Grover and Matthew Glasser, ran a series of hard-hitting pieces about the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. Over a year of intensive research, including interviews with CBG’s Dan Hirsch, exposed new revelations: During the partial meltdown in 1959, radiation levels in the reactor building were so high that worker radiation badges were confiscated and huge loading doors were opened to vent the radioactivity right out into the environment.

Earlier, the founder of a nearby camp called in the sheriff because the lab was dumping toxic wastes directly into the stream that ran through the camp. More recently, perchlorate has shown up in well water and in milk from a dairy cow at the camp.  A prior Secretary of the California EPA was in tears over how the promised cleanup was derailed by Boeing lobbyists after she left office.  Former regulators going through the revolving door to work for Boeing to undo the cleanup promises.  NBC says their investigation will continue for a long time.