Santa Susana Field Lab cleanup activists will host an event Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the partial nuclear meltdown there in 1959.

The Rock the Cleanup gathering will be 10 a.m. to noon at Rancho Tapo Community Park, 3700 Avenida Simi in Simi Valley, at the pavilions near the ballpark.

“As we look back at the meltdown anniversary, we also have to look forward and get more people involved in fighting for the cleanup,” said activist Melissa Bumstead.

“Rock the Cleanup will be a family friendly event, with informative speakers, games and fun activities like rock-painting,” she said. “We’ll use those rocks to create memorials to those harmed by SSFL.”

Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, Simi Valley City Council member Ruth Luevanos and others are scheduled to speak at the event.

The 2,850-acre field lab in unincorporated hills just southeast of Simi Valley experienced a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959 when it was the Rocketdyne/Atomics International rocket engine test and nuclear facility, and other chemical and radioactive contamination over the years.

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The site is now largely owned by aerospace giant Boeing and is divided into four areas plus northern and southern buffer zones.

Boeing is responsible for cleaning up Area 3, its part of Area 1 and the Southern Buffer Zone. NASA administers a smaller portion of the site and is responsible for remediating Area 2 and its part of Area 1. The U.S. Department of Energy doesn’t own any land at the site, but is responsible for cleaning up Area 4 and the Northern Buffer Zone.

The long-planned, much-delayed cleanup could finally start this year, Russ Edmondson, a spokesman for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the remediation, said late last year. In April, however, he appeared to back off that statement.

Mike Harris covers the east county cities of Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, as well as transportation countywide. You can contact him at mike.harris@vcstar.com or 805-437-0323.

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