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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has extended the public comment session on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup until April 26. The session was scheduled to end Feb. 25, but the DOE decided to lengthen the time frame because of a public petition and at the request of government officials.

The controversial site is located in the hills between the cities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley in California. For nearly 50 years, the Rocketdyne site was home to rocket fuel and nuclear research that left behind low-level radiation.

During past public comment sessions, citizens criticized the DOE’s clean-up plan saying it doesn’t do enough to protect future users of the site. Currently, Boeing owns the land and has not specified how it will be used.

Mike Lopez, of the DOE’s Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC), manages the Rocketdyne site. He told adjustercom.com that reports of the DOE plan leaving behind 98 percent of the soil contamination are inaccurate. “We’re going to be protecting the land and the people. The risk will be well within the CERCLA range, in fact at the lower end of the CERCLA range.”

Lopez said that once the public comment session ends the suggestions will be reviewed and changes will be made accordingly. Then DOE officials will decide whether or not to perform an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before the clean-up process begins.

The cleanup should take about five to eight years according to Lopez. There are still three facilities on-site that need to be decontaminated and destroyed. Lopez estimated the outstanding work would cost around $115 million.