Cleanup continues 52 yrs after partial meltdown in Los Angeles via The Mainichi Daily News

SIMI VALLEY, California (Kyodo) — In 1959, a nuclear reactor at a research facility 70 kilometers from Los Angeles experienced a partial meltdown that was largely unknown by the public for 30 years. Now preparation for a final cleanup is under way.

North American Aviation Inc. built the 1,150-hectare Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the dry, rugged hills above Simi Valley, California, in 1947. The company conducted research on nuclear and aerospace technology, some of it for the U.S. government, including 30,000 rocket tests and running 10 experimental reactors.

One reactor was built to test sodium coolant technology. More than a month after the accident that caused part of the reactor’s fuel to melt, the company said in a press release, “No release of radioactive materials to the plant or its environs occurred and operating personnel were not exposed to harmful conditions.”

What actually occurred has been the subject of intense controversy.

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