Field lab demolition to begin

Offices and buildings at Santa Susana site will be dismantled

DESERTEDA NASA service building in Area II of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, which contains mostly office space, is one of a few structures scheduled for demolition this month. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers Beginning this month, NASA will demolish about 40 buildings at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory as part of its ongoing effort to clean up the former rocket engine testing site.

The first round of demolition will take place in Area II, which includes the service areas on the northern part of the site and the Delta test site, where large liquid propulsion systems were tested in the 1960s, according to Allen Elliott, SSFL program director.

The service areas include cafeterias, laser labs, office spaces, warehouses, auto shops and other places like that, which arent being used anymore, Elliott said. We wont be demolishing any (rocket engine) test stands though.

The demolition is the first step in cleaning up the field lab and, in some areas, is necessary to remediate the soil beneath some of the structures, Elliott said. The SSFL is no longer required to meet NASAs mission and, as such, the unoccupied buildings and obsolete test stands also arent needed.

Since 1947, the 2,850-acre SSFL has been used as a nuclear test site and for research in the development of ballistic missiles, rockets and space shuttle equipment.

Boeing Co. owns nearly 80 percent of the field lab, including Area IV, which suffered a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959. The federal government owns the remaining 20 percent, which includes all of Area II and part of Area I. Cleanup efforts at the site began in 2010, and NASA is overseeing cleanup on the federal governments portion.

NASA is one of three government agencies responsible for cleanup at the field lab, with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Toxic Substances Control overseeing Boeings portion of the site.

Peter Zorba, SSFL project manager, said the demolition is a very complex process.

NASA isnt the only one doing demolition on the site, but were coordinating with the community and taking their concerns into account, he said, adding that NASA has held community meetings to give updates on the progress.

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Field lab demolition to begin