CONNECT Series Community Update – May 13, 2026

DOE’s Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) team held its second CONNECT Series community update meeting on May 13, 2026, to talk about cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL). Discussion started with a recap from Josh Mengers, DOE’s federal project director, on some questions asked during the first CONNECT meeting on January 28, 2026, before zooming out to an overall look at cleanup across sites managed by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), given by Karen Edson, a public affairs specialist with EM headquarters. Mengers then zoomed in to ETEC and how that larger scope of work helps inform what’s going on at SSFL, including the former operations and remediation at the Sodium Experiment Reactor and Former Sodium Disposal Facility. Other topics included a brief look at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 study, current activities and what’s next. Learn more about the CONNECT series: https://www.energy.gov/etec/connect-series.