ETEC team accelerates positive community engagement

ETEC team boosts engagement efforts with presentations to local volunteer groups, participation in local events and hosting site tours at SSFL for interested community members.

Energy Technology Engineering Center

June 19, 2026

Estimated Read Time min

Josh Mengers, DOE’s federal project director at SSFL, gave a presentation on the department’s cleanup activities at the site on March 25, 2026. Photo courtesy of Josh Mengers.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) team boosted its recent engagement efforts with presentations to volunteer groups, participation in a local street fair, an interview with a TV news outlet, and hosting a handful of site tours at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL).

SSFL is a 2,850-acre former rocket engine and nuclear research facility comprised of four operational areas. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is charged with remediation in Area IV, where ETEC previously operated.

In March, ETEC staff attended the Chatsworth Community Coordinating Council, gave a presentation to the Simi Valley Kiwanis Club and did an on-air interview as part of a segment for a local TV news outlet.

Community members talk with Josh Mengers (right), DOE’s federal project director at SSFL, and Lucas Ray (center), at the Simi Valley Street Fair on May 2, 2026. Photo courtesy of Melissa Simon.

In April and May, the team hosted site tours for members of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, DOE contractors and a local college student working on an audio documentary for a broadcast class.

Josh Mengers, DOE’s federal project director for ETEC, covered various topics during the site tours, including SSFL’s history, cleanup efforts, the air monitoring program, interim groundwater measures and the 1959 partial meltdown at the Sodium Reactor Experiment.

The ETEC team was among the hundreds of vendors at the Simi Valley Street Fair in May, where visitors could learn about SSFL’s history and DOE’s cleanup or create a spectroscope, an instrument that separates white light into a rainbow of colors based on wavelengths.

Josh Mengers gives site tour to local student

Local college student Elizabeth Santana-Zavala interviewed Josh Mengers, DOE’s federal project director at SSFL, for a class project during a tour of SSFL on May 18, 2026. Photo courtesy of Melissa Simon.

At each of these events, the ETEC team highlighted the new Community Outreach, Neighbor Notifications, Engagement, Collaboration and Training (CONNECT) Series encouraged the public to attend the May 13 CONNECT meeting to learn more about DOE’s cleanup efforts at SSFL.

“We want to listen to the community, and engaging with them is important as we complete our portion of the cleanup,” Mengers said. “Attending events like this is a great way to do that and it also allows us to connect with different groups we may not have reached before.”

-Contributor: Melissa Simon