The Sodium Reactor Experiment was a deadly nuclear accident. On July 12, 1957 in Los Angeles, California, high levels of radiation leaked from a laboratory. The two countries involved in this horrible disaster was Japan and the United States of America. This accident happened after the United States dropped nuclear bombs in Japan. The North American Aviation corporation opened a nuclear test site in Ventura approximately 2,800 acres. They set a laboratory, Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL) where top-secret researches would perform nuclear tests with rocket engineering and nuclear energy power. The experiment turned out to be a horrible accident in history. Radiation started spreading inside the laboratory at high altitudes. Employees began …show more content…
They also said that no radiation had leaked to nearby communities. This didn't seem right to the people due to the fact that they had restarted the reactor on July 15th. Radiation levels had surpassed the normal amounts, meaning a second incident of leaks was more concentrated. The people were unaware about this and believed what they had been told. The truth about this catastrophe was kept a secret until UCLA students uncovered Atomic Energy Commission records in 1979. A study in 1997 found that cancer rates had increased among SFFL employees. In 2009 a study of soil found some areas of concern in the facility. The study did not mean that it was affecting the health of nearby residents. Although in 2007 a university of Michigan study stated that certain cancers had increased to 60% in nearby areas. Strontium-90 was the element released in the Sodium Reactor Experiment accident. Strontium-90 is Sr with an atomic number of 38 and atomic weight of 87.62. The physical state was 68 degrees, crystal structure was cubic, face centered. It’s acid base would he strongly basic, and it’s color would be orange because it is an alkaline earth metal. The half-life of strontium-90 it 28.79