Group observes meltdown's 50th anniversary

LOS ANGELES, July 13 (UPI) -- Those present at the first nuclear reactor meltdown in U.S. history in 1959 say it's about time the government does something to clean up the Los Angeles site.

Former lab workers and residents from near the Chatsworth neighborhood were to gather Monday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the accident at the Atomics International field laboratory in the Santa Susana Mountains, in which radioactive gases were spewed into the air from an experimental nuclear power reactor, the Los Angeles Times reported.

During the ceremony, the Environmental Protection Agency was to give an update on its plans to spend $40 million in stimulus funds on a comprehensive radioactive survey of the nuclear site, which is now owned by The Boeing Co. and NASA.

"It's about time," Holly Huff told the Times, which reported she was 8 years old when the meltdown happened a mile from her home and has recently been diagnosed with leukemia and thyroid problems.

One-time lab worker John Pace said the Atomic Energy Commission wanted to keep the meltdown and gas venting secret, and kept switching the reactor on and off for weeks after the partial meltdown of the nuclear fuel.