BUILDINGS PROMPTING CONCERN; RECALL OF PORTABLES URGED.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - Portable buildings formerly housed at the nuclear energy research area at the Santa Susana Field Lab and donated to communities should be recalled, a federal lawmaker said Wednesday.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., called on the Department of Energy to halt further removal of buildings or debris from the Rocketdyne site until steps are taken in what she called a ``scandalous matter.''

``I am writing to inform you of a scandalous matter involving the release of potentially contaminated building debris and trailers from the Rocketdyne site in Ventura County,'' said the letter from Boxer, calling for steps to be taken ``in order to restore public trust in this cleanup.''

However, the Energy Department and Rocketdyne have strongly maintained they have followed all regulations regarding decontamination and release of the buildings.

Rocketdyne has said the buildings were used only for administration and support at the nuclear research area. The buildings had been on site since the 1980s, situated about 100 yards from any nuclear activities, which were stopped at the lab in 1989, the company said.

``It's ludicrous . . . They are not contaminated buildings. There was was never any belief that they were contaminated,'' said Rocketdyne spokesman Dan Beck.

``They don't need to be doing these things, because there is no public health threat, and there was no need in the first place to test those buildings,'' said Beck. Last year, the Energy Department donated 21 of the buildings to the Wildlife Waystation, which cares for animals in the Angeles National Forest. In 1998 it sold another group of buildings at a reduced rate to a San Luis Obispo County school district, officials said.

At the Waystation near Tujunga, the buildings had been planned for use as an animal hospital and storage, but would probably be removed from the site, an official said.

``It's just something we don't need to deal with,'' said Executive Vice President Dean Seymour. He said he had been told that there had been concerns raised about radiological contamination, but was told that the Waystation had ``nothing to worry about.''

In the Shandon Unified School District, the trailers were going to be put together to make a three-classroom structure, but now sit unused and surrounded by a chain-link fence on campus.

Superintendent Terry Brace said more asbestos was found in the buildings than the district had counted on, and that he had been trying to get the trailers off campus for six months.

``They had some portables we could get at a real cheap price,'' said Brace. ``I don't know if we'll be going that route again.''

He said the Energy Department had agreed to test the buildings for radiological contamination and remove them.

An Energy Department official did not return a telephone call for comment.

However, Beck said that the school district had been informed of asbestos in the walls and advised not to alter the buildings.

``There was full disclosure on those things. All of the rules and regulations were followed on this.''

Boxer called for all the buildings to be recalled and for the school district to be reimbursed for money spent on the project. She also called for further accounting of other buildings removed from the site.