Pacific Northwest National Lab Develops Physical Sciences Facility

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has awarded a joint venture of Lydig Construction and George Grant Inc. a $106 million contract to complete the 200,000-sf Physical Sciences Facility. Replacing labs and offices at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation that will be vacated by 2011 to prepare for environmental cleanup, the Physical Sciences Facility will support national security and energy research missions with three main buildings: radiation detection, materials science and technology, and nuclear and chemical weapons compliance testing. The project includes high bay research space, a radiation portal monitoring test track, and an underground laboratory located 40 feet below the surface. Ground was broken on the project in August of 2007; Lydig and George Grant will initiate construction in August of 2008. Completion is slated for 2010. Two additional buildings will break ground in 2008, the Biological Science Facility and the Computational Sciences Facility; occupancy is slated for 2010.