I This report is PRIVILEGED INFORMATIO e N of th U .S . Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha Distric t FINAL REPORT SANTA SUSANA FIELD LABORATORY (SSFL) 1 AIR FORCE PLANT NO . S7 SITE OPERATIONS / OWNERSHIP HISTORY I I Prepared fo r I U .S . Army Corps of Engineers Omaha Distric t Omaha , Nebraska I I Contract No . DACA45 - 89-D-0512 Delivery Order No . 1 I I Prepared by I TechLaw, Inc 14500 Avion Parkway Suite 300 I Chantilly , Virginia 22021-1101 (703) 818-100 0 I October 4, 199 0 I I CONFIDENTIAL LEVEL I -UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER , BNA0875127 1 United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. CV 97-1554 H DMSp01666278 FINAL REPORT SANTA SUSANA FIELD LABORATORY SITE OPERATIONS/ OWNERSHIP HISTORY 1 Table o>< content s 1 Section Paae I . INTRODUCTION . 1 A . Project Background . 1 3 . Report Organization . 3 II . SITE OPERATIONS HISTORY . 4 A . Introduction . 4 B . Large Engine Testing at SSFL . 4 C . Engine Testing and TCE Flushing . 7 0 . Rocketdyne Programs . 9 1 . Navaho . 9 2 . Atlas . .11 3 . Jupiter and Thor . .14 I 4 . E-1 . .16 5 . H-1 . .17 6 . F-1 . .18 1 7 . RS-27 Delta . .1 9 E . TCE and Retention Ponds . .20 F . Other TCE and Solvent Releases . .25 G . RCRA Impoundments . .2 9 1 . Advanced Propulsion Test Facility . 2 9 2 . Alfa Bravo Skim Pond . 3 0 3 . Storable Propellants Area . .31 4 . Delta and Propellant Load Facility . 32 5 . Systems Test Laboratory-IV . 3 3 H . Other Operations at SSFL . .34 1 . Liquid Oxygen Plant . .38 2 . Coal Gasification /Liquefaction . 3 8 CONFIDENTIAL LEVEL I - UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER , BNAU8751272 United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. CV 97-1554 H DMSp01666279 I FINAL REPORT I SANTA SUSANA FIELD LABORATORY SITE OPERATIONS/OWNERSHIP HISTORY 1 Table of Contents i FIGURES and TABLE Figure 1 : Boundary of SSFL Facility . : . 4 b Figure 2 : Map of Areas I, II, and III . .4c Figure 3 : TCE Use and Storage at SSFL - Table . 4d Figure 4 : TCE Use and Storage at SSFL - Map . .4e Figure 5 : Typical 1,000,000-pound Thrus t 1 Test Stand Structure . .6a Figure 6 : Typical Large Rocket Engine Test Stand . 6b Figure 7 : Major Rocket Engine Development an d 1 Production at SSFL . .9a Figure 8 : Locations of RCRA Surface Impoundment s in Areas I, II, and III . .21a Figure 9 : Ponds and Drainage at SSFL . .22a-b Figure 10 : Summary of TCE Use at Other Areas - SSFL . .35a Figure il : Large Engine Tests at SSFL . .E-la Table 1 : Ownership of SSFL for Areas I, II, and II I I and Lox Plant from 1947 to 1990 . 4 a 1 APPENDICE S Appendix A - List of Documents Referenced I Appendix B - Inte rv iew Summaries Appendix C - Property History Narrative Appendix D - Contacts and Information Sources I Appendix E - Test Firing Records Analysi s Appendix F - USAF and NASA Facilities Contracts " Appendix A" Information Summary 1 CONFIDENTIAL LEVEL I - UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER , BNA08751273 United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. CV 97-1554 H DMSpO1666280 PRIVILEGED INFORMATIO .S . An,y Corps of EnS,00o,a• O, i,N U . Diatri,t FINAL REPORT BANTA BUSANA FIELD LABORATORY SITE OPERATIONS HISTORY I . INTRODUCTION A . Project Backaround Former Air Force Plant (APP) No . 56, located in Canoga Park, California, was owned by the Air Force from September 1955 to 1974, at which time, it was sold to Rockwell International Corporation (RIC) . SIC has operated at AFP No . 56 from approximately 1955 to the present, for the production, assembly, and testing of rocket engines . Former APP No . 57, located in Ventura County, California, constitutes a portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) . SSFL was developed beginning in 1948 to test various developmental rocket engines . The Air Force owned the AFP No . 57 property from December 1958 until 1973, when I the property was transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) . SSFL is being used at the present by RIC to test rocket engines and components for the Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA, and other products (e .g ., plastic 1 explosives) for commercial clients . The groundwater at AFP No . 56 has been contaminated with various organic solvents as a result of the manufacturing processes, particularly the use of degreasers, and underground tanks and sumps . There is also gasoline contamination of the groundwater underlying AFP No . 56 from two possible off-site sources--a former J .C . Penney, Treasury Division gasoline station, and a Montgomery Ward Auto Service Center . The groundwater at AFP No . 57 and the adjacent areas of SSFL has been contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) as the result of the rocket testing operations . TechLaw, Inc ., received Delivery Order No . 1, under Contract No . DACA45-89-D-0512 to provide investigative services to the U .S . Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District ("the Corps"), regarding AFP Nos . 56 and 57 . The purpose of the Scope of Work I for Delivery Order No . 1, was to provide services to the Corps in the development of the nature and extent of responsibility and cost allocation for investigation and cleanup of AFP Has . 56 and 57 . I 1 CONFIDENTIAL LEVEL I - UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER , BNAU8751274 United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. CV 97-1554 H DMSpO1666281 I 1 The Quality Control and Investigation Plan prepared in response to Delivery Order No . 1 proposed the following tasks ; collect and review Federal, state, and local files ; perform a I literature search ; conduct various site investigations ; conduct a PRP search ; undertake cost evaluation of the remedial activities at the facilities ; inte rv iew knowledgeable individuals ; and, develop and implement a database index system for the collected I records . The site investigations to be conducted under the Scope of I Work included the following : 1) Site Ownershi p 2) Operational History 3) Contract Types/Relationships 4) Aerial Photo Interpretation 5) Technical Data Analysi s 6) Baseline Public Health and Environmental Risk Assessment 7) Identification of Data Gaps 8) Cost Allocation Formul a The Site Operations/Ownership History Draft Report was submitted to the Corps on April 5, 1990, summarizing the results of the site investigations for 1) Site Ownership History, and 2) Operational History, for SSFL . As directed by the corps, the research for SSFL focused on Areas I, II, and III, and did not include Area IV, because Area IV has been operated by the Department of Energy and has an operating history distinct from the other three areas . Within the three areas of SSFL (Areas I, II, and III ) that are discussed under this report , Area II is I equivalent to former APP No . 57 . The Corps provided comments regarding the April 5 Draft Report to TechLaw and the Final Draft Report was submitted on July 25, 1990, incorporating revisions based on those comments . This report constitutes the Final Report . The following reports were also submitted separately under this Delivery Order : 1) Canoga Manufacturing Plant - Site Operation and Ownership Histor y 2) Baseline Risk Assessment Report for SSFL 3) Baseline Risk Assessment Report for the Canoga Manufacturing Plan t 4) Cost Allocation and Cost Evaluation Report for SSFL and the Canoga I Manufacturing Plan t I 2 CONFIDENTIAL LEVEL I -UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER , BNA0875127 5 United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. CV 97-1554 H DMSpO1666282 3. Report Organization I The remainder of this Final Report is arranged as follows : The Final Report summarizes the results of the site history and operations research conducted to date for SSFL . The site history has been developed through review and analysis of the documents obtained and the interviews conducted . 1 Appendix A contains a list of documents that are cited as reference documents in this Final Report . Documents obtained by TechLaw have been sequentially labelled with'an alphabetical prefix and a document reference number in the upper right-hand 1 corner of each page . The alphabetical prefix indicates the agency or organization from which the document was obtained ; the number is used to identify the particular page of the document . Throughout this report, these reference numbers follow a 1 statement or group of statements, designating the supporting document(s) from which the information was extracted . The main source agencies and organizations for the documents referenced in this report and their corresponding prefixes are as follows : ACE - Army Corps of Engineers DHS - State of California, Department of Health Services RCK - Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell Internationa l WQC - Regional Water Quality Control Boar d The reference documents that have been collected and used to prepare this report have been submitted to the Corps with the document inventory database . Appendix B contains summaries of the interviews conducted with knowledgeable individuals . Interview information referred to throughout this report is referenced by the use of th e interviewee' s name in parentheses following a statement or a group of statements . Appendix C contains a property history narrative for the SSFL facility property comprising Areas I , II, and III . Appendix D contains a list of the agencies and organizations that were contacted in order to obtain relevant records and information . Appendix E contains an analysis of the available test firing records . Appendix F contains a summary of the "Appendix A" information submitted under the Air Force and NASA facilities contracts for operations at SSFL . I 3 CONFIDENTIAL LEVEL I -UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER , BNA0875127 6 United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. CV 97-1554 H DMSp01666283 II . SITE OPERATIONS HISTORY A . Introduction At the end of World War II, North American Aviation, Inc .