Firm Raided by Authorities Told to Clean Up Act

A Sun Valley company that was raided by a city-county task force on Jan. 17 must abandon operations that caused high levels of radiation leakage, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Friday.

Lawyers for the California Bionuclear Corp., which supplies radioactive compounds to buyers that include the Army, and the city attorney’s office agreed on terms of a preliminary injunction that bars handling, storing or disposing of dangerous materials in violation of state radiation controls and local fire laws.

Members of an Environmental Protection Task Force found radiation leakage 100 times the permissible levels on and around company premises at 7654 San Fernando Road during the raid, according to the city attorney’s office, which coordinates the task force.

Explosive materials were removed to an isolated site near Burbank Airport and detonated, and the site is now clear of any threat or hazard, officials said.

A lawsuit filed by the city in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday accused Bionuclear and its owner, Riad Ahmed, of allowing radiation to escape, contaminating the facility and its environs and storing hazardous materials in a refrigerator that was not explosion-proof or approved for such a purpose. In a written statement, Ahmed said he would cooperate fully with officials to resolve the problems.