Familiar with the Santa Susana Field Lab? (Los Angeles, Simi Valley: 2014, schools)

[chrstnkms]

Reposted from the Los Angeles forum:

Looking to move to Oak Park/Agoura Hills/Westlake Village and I came across the Santa Susana Field Lab in nearby Simi Valley during my research. Upon further investigation, I found that the DOD conducted a range of radioactive materials testing, and in 1959, there was a partial meltdown of nuclear reactors. Though the iodine-131 released has a half life of eight days, the facility also released many other radioactive materials, as well as other toxic chemicals, over a period of years.

Santa Susana Field Laboratory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Living on Earth: A Nuclear Incident "Worse Than Three Mile Island"

Recently, there have been reports of cancer clusters in nearby towns, many of which I might add are middle to high-income towns. No one from these areas I've talked to at work seem to be aware of this huge testing site, nevermind the accidents it has had in the past and the potential exposure there might remain.

Do we move into the area (suburban, excellent schools, community feel) anyway and cross our fingers that we will be fine or do we instead stay where we are in Mar Vista/West LA where the schools are spotty and housing costs are high, though we could make it work (look hard for "cheap" privates aka less than $30k a year and be ok w/a comparatively more expensive though smaller house)?

Incidentally just came across this recent LATimes article: Santa Susana toxic cleanup effort is a mess*-*Los Angeles Times