If you worked or lived next to the west side of George AFB, worked at an engine test cell or the weapons test bunker, you were likely exposed to unsafe levels of fission byproducts (radioactive dust) from the decontamination of aircraft and equipment used in the open-air nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). This exposure could potentially pose serious health risks to you and your children. Aircraft from George AFB participated in the Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Proving Grounds/Nevada Test Site (NTS). These aircraft performed atomic cloud sampling, weather observations, and aerial photography, resulting in some of the aircraft, equipment, and personnel becoming highly contaminated with fission byproducts from the nuclear bomb test. The returning aircraft were washed down or stored onsite at George AFB until the radioactive contamination decayed to safe levels and then washed down.
The Nevada Test Site Cloud Sampling missions were conducted within minutes of the detonation of the atmospheric nuclear test (from 1946 to 1962). These radiological decontamination centers generated an enormous amount of highly radioactive waste, including decommissioned clothing, equipment, aircraft, water, degreasers, solvents, and soil. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) and Air Force Real Property Agency (AFRPA), in a significant lack of transparency and accountability, have denied the existence of the George AFB decontamination centers since 1985. This lack of transparency is a serious issue that needs to be addressed for accountability and justice.
There are dozens of documents published by the US Government, including the Air Force, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA), which mention the Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Test Decontamination Centers for aircraft, crews, and equipment at George AFB. However, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s CERCLA Administrative Record for George AFB contains NO mention of an assessment or remediation of the radioactive waste these decontamination centers would have generated.
When the Air Force and DoD chose to suppress information, withhold documents, and deny the existence of the George AFB’s Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing Decontamination & Decommissioning Centers, they were not just being secretive; they were lying:
- To the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs;
- To the public: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Restoration Advisory Board (RAB), Congress; local, state, and federal regulators;
- To FOIA requestors;
- On the CERCLA 120(h) deed restrictions;
- To the recipients of the properties at George AFB.
When Air Force personnel, civilian employees, contractors, and subcontractors concealed the true nature and extent of the contamination and the completed exposure pathways that existed at George AFB, they potentially:
- endangered the public;
- defrauded the injured Air Force personnel and family members of medical care and compensation for injuries caused by their exposure to hazardous, toxic, and radioactive substances and/or materials;
- defrauded recipients of the George AFB land parcels and/or their insurance companies;
- unnecessarily exposed the construction workers who demolished the old buildings to hazardous substances and/or materials;
- caused the demolition contractors to dispose of hazardous substances and/or materials improperly;
- unnecessarily exposed the construction workers who built the new buildings to hazardous substances and/or materials;
- unnecessarily exposed the current occupants of the new buildings built on the contaminated property to hazardous substances and/or materials.
Completed Exposure Pathway (CEP)
The fission byproducts (radioactive dust in the soil and air) at George AFB provided a Completed Exposure Pathway (CEP).
ATSDR’s Public Health Assessment (PHA) for George AFB
The DoD and Air Force failed to notify the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) about the location of the “HOT” wash area at George AFB. Additionally, because the Air Force did not correct the ATSDR during the Peer Review / Public Comments period or after the report was published in 1998, the Air Force lied by omission.
ATSDR - Public Health Assessment (PHA) for George AFB (PDF 3.36 MB)
In 2015-16, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Radiologic Health Branch investigated the radiological decontamination centers at George AFB. CDPH concluded that historical documents demonstrate that aircraft were decontaminated at George AFB, and the Air Force has NOT publicly acknowledged the radiological contamination or the cleanup of this possible radiological contamination.
With the recent declassification and/or release of documents through FOIA by the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) and Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), we now know that several Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing Radiological Decontamination Centers were located at the former George Air Force Base (AFB), CA—EPA Superfund ID: CA2570024453.
“History of the 479th Fighter-Bomber Wing, 1952 to 1953”. The maps are on PDF pages 133 and 134 and show the location of the decontamination area as being in the west-central part of the base. Photographs of the Decontamination Centers start on page 282
GAFB Aircraft Decontamination Area Extracted pages
The full report “History of the 479th Fighter-Bomber Wing, 1952 to 1953” – (PDF 32.1 MB)
Volkswagen is storing thousands of diesel “buy back” cars at the Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) Unfortunately, this storage location is on the site of the Radiological Decontamination Centers at the former George Air Force Base (AFB), CA.
… “Stirling has leased them 134 acres,” said [Anita] Tuckerman, director of Asset Services for Stirling Development. “They can hold 21,000 cars on their current land.”
The leasee is a so-called third-party logistics provider, Extreme Logistics Solutions Inc. Company President James Perham would only confirm he is working with VW. …
Diesel VWs land in 134-acre purgatory at Southern California Logistics Airport
Victorville Daly Press, April 29, 2017, by Steve Hunt
Google Maps: Volkswagen TDI Buy Back vehicles stored at the SCLA
The Air Force and DoD failed to disclose the possible presence of degreasers, solvents, and radioactive isotopes (fission byproducts) in the CERCLA §120(h) deed restrictions.
2003-09-30 - Quitclaim Deed USAF SCLA -Portion Parcel B - HOT wash rack.PDF- 2007-07-1 - Quitclaim Deed USAF SCLA Portion Parcel B - HOT wash rack.PDF
George AFB, CA
The Air Force failed to disclose to Senator John Glenn and the US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs that George Air Force Base, CA, had several radiological decontamination centers for aircraft and personnel involved in the nuclear cloud sampling program.
The following bases reported nuclear cloud sampling aircraft washdown – (Fission Products)
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ
George Air Force Base, CA – was not listed despite having several radiological decontamination centers for aircraft and personnel.
Holloman Air Force Base, NM
Nellis Air Force Base, NV – (Lake Mead) (Indian Springs)
Norton Air Force Base, CA – was listed after the Norton AFB Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) forced the release of historical records and provided them to the US EPA and Senator Glenn.
Radiological contamination in the United States PDF – extracted pages
Norton Air Force Base, CA
The Air Force failed to disclose to Senator John Glenn and the US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs that that “HOT’ aircraft were decontaminated at the former Norton Air Force Base, CA.
Question 6: …
How do you account for the fact that EPA determined, from a review of Air Force documentation, that washdown activities did take place at Norton, and yet you neglect to even mention Norton in your written or oral testimony?… Page 354
The full document Radiological contamination in the United States
Hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs
United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, second session
April 9, 1992
HathiTrust – Digital Library
The Air Force failed to disclose to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) for the Public Health Assessment (PHA) for George AFB that George AFB had several radiological decontamination centers for aircraft and personnel that were involved in the nuclear cloud sampling program.
Radiological Contamination
Radiological contamination does not represent an apparent past public health hazard and does not represent a present or future public health hazard. A small amount of radioactive material was discovered and removed from a portion of the Southeast Disposal Area (SEDA). Radiation surveys and exploratory soil excavation indicate that this area and the two munitions storage areas were not used for disposal of significant quantities of radioactive waste. Although people using the SEDA for recreation in the past may have been exposed to small amounts of low-level radioactive material, such exposures would have been infrequent and of short duration and would not be expected to pose a health hazard. The SEDA has recently been fenced and its landfill cover has been rehabilitated. The George AFB property located south of Air Base Road, which includes the SED A, has been transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and will be the site of a prison that is currently under construction; the SEDA will remain fenced and will be within the fenceline of the prison.
pages 3 and 4 of the PHA for George AFB
Complete ATSDR - Public Health Assessment (PHA) for George AFB (PDF 3.36 MB)
The ATSDR relied on the Air Force to provide the relevant information and records to conduct the Public Health Assessment (PHA). The Air Force failed to notify the ATSDR of the existence of:
- George AFB’s Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing Decontamination Centers for aircraft, crews, and equipment;
- The large quantity of highly radioactive waste the decontamination centers would generate;
- Where this quantity of highly radioactive waste was disposed of, including the decommissioned and radioactive aircraft, equipment, and clothing;
- The potential exposure pathways that this radioactive waste would create.
The Air Force failed to provide the ATSDR any information or records about the Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing Decontamination Centers or the location of its radioactive waste. See: George AFB PHA – References
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ATSDR, was established by Congress in 1980 under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as the Superfund law. This law established a fund to identify and clean up our country’s hazardous waste sites. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and the individual states regulate the investigation and cleanup of the site.
The document (Operation Ranger—Decontamination Of Aircraft) describes the Air Force’s approved method for the radiological decontamination of aircraft used during Operation Ranger. It also lists some of the highly radioactive waste generated during this process. It should be noted that it was not uncommon for aircraft to require decontamination up to three times before they were safe to use again.
While this document does NOT specifically mention the Radiological Decontamination Centers at George AFB, it does describe the radiological decontamination process and the average amount of chemicals and radioactive waste generated.
“To accomplish these results, the average time required per aircraft was 127 minutes for decontamination and 61 minutes for surveying, adding up to a total of 188 minutes. The average decontamination materials used per aircraft were 1200 – 1600 gallons of water, 12 – 16 lbs. of trisodium phosphate, 150-200 lbs. of ‘GUNK’ and 75 – 80 gallons of cleaning solvent.”
“Cleaning solvent” is defined as “(Compound, Cleaning, Formula 11C, Part No 7300-204500, Class 07).”
- What “cleaning solvent(s)” were used at the George AFB’s Radiological Decontamination Centers? TCE, PCE, or…?
- Did the Air Force conduct an assessment and/or remediation of the contamination created by the Radiological Decontamination Centers?
If you open the document in Adobe Acrobat, the cited pages are bookmarked
Operation Ranger – Decontamination Of Aircraft
- Air Force – February 2, 1951 – (PDF – 4.04 MB)
FOIA Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA)
- FOIA request to the Air Force Historical Research Agency – March 14, 2014
Released record: History of the 479th Fighter-Bomber Wing, December 1, 1952 – June 30, 1953, George AFB, CA – (PDF 32.1 MB) FOIA Response and bill AFHRA - History of the 479th Fighter-Bomber Wing - 11 August 20014
Photographs Of Decontamination Centers start on page 282
FOIA Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
- FOIA request to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency – May 14, 2014
- FOIA response Defense Threat Reduction Agency – October 1, 2015 (PDF)
Between 1945 and 1962, the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) conducted 235 atmospheric nuclear weapon tests at sites in the United States and in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. About 220,000 Department of Defense (DOD) participants, both military and civilian, were present at the tests. Of these, approximately 142,000 participated in the Pacific test series and approximately another 4,000 in the single Atlantic test series.
My dad (deceased) spoke of exposure to radiation somewhere on the flightlines and I believe in California. He was at George Air Force Base in the 1950s.If you have further information I would appreciate any data. Thank you – a daughter.
I was stationed at George AFB from Sept. 1969 to Feb. 1971, as a Security Policeman. This information must have been classified, because it was never disseminated to anyone working or living on the base at that time. I’m sure anyone who was stationed there and their dependent families that lived on the base were contaminated with exposure to this radiation. The water we drank, and showered with was contaminated as well. No wonder the Air Force and Governmental agencies have kept this information secret. I’m sure many if not all who lived and worked at George AFB have medical issues related to this if they are still alive.
There is so much that is still under the radar. The Combat Camera building at Norton is a classic example of a radiation lab that hid in plain sight. The fallout rally sign on the back fence (since when does a fallout drill require an external rally point?), as well as the concrete 20 ft. tall roll up garage doors are obvious examples of a lab, as well as the dedicated cooling tower and water storage tower. The Air Force’s response post shut down was to try and quit claim the building to the local Indian tribe, who knew better than to trust the pale faces. Since tribes have soveriegn land, this would have dumped the mess on them, game over. When last there, the lab building had welded steel plates across all access points, unlike all other buildings in the area. Next to the old range, the story was the range was contaminated, not the sealed up lab.
All these bases were a mess; taking over from the Air Force is usually a fool’s errand, as the clean up costs are more than a rural are can hope to manage.