Workers use high-reach shears to begin demolition of the Sodium Pump Test Facility at the former Energy Technology Engineering Center in California. (Photo: DOE)
Crews are in the homestretch of completing demolition of Department of Energy–owned buildings at the former Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) site in Ventura County, California, the agency reported on August 24.
The facility: Operating from 1974 to 2001, the Sodium Pump Test Facility (pictured above) was one of seven liquid metal test facilities at ETEC used for research and development. The facility provided space for the development, performance, and verification testing of large sodium pumps. Two adjacent buildings, numbered 4462 and 4463, make up the facility.
Building 4462, at right, was constructed in 1972 to test 6,000-gallon-per-minute sodium pumps and was last used in 2001. Building 4463, at left, was built to support the pump tests.
The demolition work: ETEC had issued records of decision for demolition of the final 18 DOE-owned buildings at the site. All but the buildings pictured above have been demolished. Once the last buildings are torn down, the DOE intends to continue working with the State of California on final cleanup, including groundwater and soil remediation.
ETEC is situated on 90 acres of land leased from the Boeing Corporation within the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. ETEC personnel conducted testing of miniature nuclear reactors and researched liquid metals in the 1950s and 1960s. Most site activities ceased in the late 1980s.
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