SIMI VALLEY : DOE Slates Meeting on Cleanup Update

U. S. Department of Energy officials will hold a public meeting tonight in Simi Valley to update the public on cleanup operations of its former nuclear research and testing facilities at Rockwell’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the hills southeast of the city.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Simi Valley City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.

Officials will discuss the ongoing decontamination of former nuclear reactor buildings on 290 acres of the 2,668-acre complex.

The area was once the site of extensive nuclear research and testing operations conducted by Rockwell’s Rocketdyne Division on behalf of the federal government. Nuclear operations began in the 1950s and continued through the mid-1980s.

The meeting comes the same week that the Department of Energy launched its most extensive inspection ever of the Santa Susana laboratory and its cleanup operations. A 40-member team of environmental, safety and health experts is conducting the monthlong inspection.

The primary focus of tonight’s meeting is to outline major cleanup projects scheduled for the next five years at an estimated cost of $35 million, said Roger Liddle, the DOE’s restoration manager at Santa Susana.

“This is a way to show the public how we decide which projects have the highest priority and how they fit in with our budget,” Liddle said. “It’s also a way to involve the public in the process and try to answer questions.”

Liddle said this is only the second time that DOE officials have met with the public for the sole purpose of reviewing cleanup operations at Santa Susana. He said the DOE plans to hold similar public meetings every two months.