Updated

State and federal officials have signed agreements to remove all contamination and return the site of a partial nuclear meltdown just outside Los Angeles back to its natural state.

Officials announced in September they had reached an agreement between the Department of Energy, NASA and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control which had to go through a public review process before it could be finalized Monday.

Residents have fought for years for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, where rocket tests and experiments with nuclear reactors took place decades ago. Current owner Boeing has yet to join the deal.

Officials have already started to take samples to determine radioactive and chemical contamination. The deadline for completing the cleanup is 2017.