Physical Sciences Facility construction begins to take shape
Construction manager Bill Steward reviews progress on the Deep Lab, part of the new construction on the Horn Rapids Triangle.
Apollo Construction was awarded a nearly $14-million contract for providing foundations and erecting structural steel for the Physical Sciences Facility project. The Kennewick-based company is expected to begin this month with work to be completed by December 2008.
"We should see the forms for some of the buildings start taking shape by January or February," says PNNL construction manager Bill Steward. "When the foundation is complete and the structural steel is erected on the first of the three buildings, the final contractor will take over and begin work to close-in the structure and install the mechanical, electrical and piping system."
Once complete, the federally-sponsored PSF project will contain scientific research important to U.S. homeland and Department of Energy national security and science agendas.
New construction within the PSF project comprises three main laboratories—Radiation Detection, Ultra-Trace and Materials Science & Technology—as well as a low-level underground lab for ultra-sensitive work and a radiation portal monitoring test track. The track will be used to test technologies that will be deployed along U.S. borders to detect illicit trafficking.
The PSF project is the largest of three planned facilities as part of PNNL's campus expansion, an effort to replace nearly 500,000 square feet of office and laboratory space slated for demolition in the 300 Area. About 450 employees will reside in the newly constructed 200,000-square-foot complex.
The PSF project is sponsored through a $224-million congressional line item, which includes the new facilities as well as extending the operating life of the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory located in the 300 Area. PNNL uses the RPL for researching new processes for addressing environmental clean-up and human health issues.