Researchers move into new PNNL facility (w/ gallieries)

RICHLAND — Three years after ground was broken on the $224 million Physical Sciences Facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, researchers are moving into the complex's five buildings.

But already the Department of Energy laboratory's leaders are planning for more space.

"In spite of the new buildings, we are out of space," said laboratory director Mike Kluse.

In addition to the Physical Sciences Facility, PNNL has opened the Biological Sciences Facility and Computational Sciences Facility. Combined with the 200,000 square feet of the Physical Sciences Facility, the new buildings give PNNL 345,000 square feet of space opened over about the last year.

The space replaces aged laboratory buildings in the Hanford 300 Area north of Richland that are being torn down as part of the cleanup of the nuclear reservation.

But in addition to replacement buildings, the national laboratory needs more offices and laboratory space to house its growing number of employees doing research to find solutions for the nation's challenges in energy, national security and the environment.

It's added 900 positions in the last three years to bring its employment to 4,924, including 425 employees off site. In addition it has 300 openings. Its annual operating budget has grown from $146 million 20 years ago to about $1.1 billion this year.

As planning starts for the next phase of expansion, PNNL is beginning to develop plans for a Chemical Sciences and Imaging Laboratory that will provide very still -- or environmentally quiet -- conditions for imaging tools that provide details on the nano-scale.

The new building also would have modern chemistry and materials synthesis laboratories.

"State of the art tools require state of the art facilities," Kluse said.

Its capabilities would support research into new ways to capture carbon and keep it from the atmosphere and to develop materials that store energy. They also would support high resolution imaging of materials structured at the nano-scale and imaging of multi-cellular biological systems.

Kluse also sees the potential for continued growth of the lab's Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center, which brings together experts from industry and research institutions to improve the nation's electrical grid operations. Now PNNL has a room that provides a fully functional and secure control room environment where researchers use the latest software, electrical grid data and advanced computation to evaluate tools and techniques in real time.

If the operations center grows as expected, it also will need more space, Kluse said.

New facilities help recruit top researchers, said Julie Erickson of DOE's Pacific Northwest Site Office.

The Physical Sciences Facility was paid for by the DOE Office of Science, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. The first workers began moving their offices and research into the complex in May and the move will continue through the end of the year. About 220 employees will be based there working on national and homeland security and energy research.

The new complex includes a Deep Lab located 40 feet below ground and covered with a berm about 20 feet above ground. The berm provides additional shielding to lower the background radiation as work is done underground to build and test sensors for national security and other programs.

The Large Detector Laboratory supports PNNL's work to develop and test radiation detection technologies for use at U.S. borders and ports of entry. It includes an oval test track to allow trucks to be driven in a loop through portals that test equipment designed to quickly scan truckloads of goods to detect any smuggled radioactive materials.

Those two buildings plus a Radiation Detection Laboratory and an Ultra-Trace Laboratory will be used for national security work for the Department of Homeland Security or the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The Radiation Detection Laboratory houses labs with radionuclide measurement technologies and capabilities. Scientists will use both it and the Ultra-Trace Laboratory to develop and apply radiation detection methods needed to identify weapons of mass destruction and terrorist activities and to support international treaties and agreements.

The fifth building, the Materials Science and Technology Laboratory, will be used for energy research, primarily for the Department of Energy. Scientist will develop and test high performance materials for new energy, construction and transportation technologies. They will work with metals, ceramics, polymeric materials, composites and specialized coatings and surface treatments.

The laboratory space is planned to be flexible to allow the lab capabilities to be reconfigured as research needs change. Instead of services, such as electricity and laboratory gases like nitrogen, being supplied from wall-mounted installations, they come from the ceiling to allow services to be supplied where needed throughout multipurpose lab rooms.

The new complex also was designed to be energy efficient with features such as high value insulation, white roofs and landscaping that requires less water than conventional turf.