ACME

Rocketdyne, the Rocket & Research division of North American Aviation had facilities on Canoga Avenue (right), De Soto, Plummer, Townsgate (Westlake Village), Sepulveda (LAX) and the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (above and below photos).

When there was an

increasing need for 

Atomic/Nuclear/Weapons,

Rocketdyne developed their

Atomics International Division,

housed in each of the above

mentioned facilities.

After becoming the Rockwell International Corporation, The Boeing Co. stepped in and purchased all of the above facilities in the mid 1990’s. Years later, in a deal with United Technologies Pratt-Whitney in 2005, The Boeing Co. sold all it’s facilities aside from the highly contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

The Boeing Co. and NASA currently own and operate the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a 2850 acre site located off Woolsey Canyon in Canoga Park used for federally funded nuclear research from the mid-1950s until 1996 and was the site of several nuclear accidents, including a partial reactor meltdown in 1959, based upon a recent study, the Los Angeles Times reported the meltdown released more radiation than the Three Mile Island incident in 1979. 

The San Fernando Valley is now considered home to the worst nuclear disaster on U.S. soil. NASA, The Department of Energy and The Boeing Co. are still fully operating the Field Lab, running daily activities including Laser Research.