Facing sticker shock over the cost of replacing buildings used by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at Hanford, the Department of Energy is reconsidering its plan to tear down all the Hanford buildings just north of Richland.

No decision has been made.

Starting in World War II the 300 Area was used to fabricate uranium to be irradiated in Hanford reactors and to conduct research. Almost 1,000 national laboratory workers continue to use laboratory space and offices in 18 buildings in the area just north of Richland.

As part of plans to clean up the nuclear reservation -- where plutonium was made for the nation's nuclear weapons program -- DOE must clean up the 300 Area and a plume of uranium in the ground water beneath it.

Its plan has been to tear down all of about 200 buildings, then excavate contaminated soil under and around them. Workers also would dig up sewer and water pipes that cross-contaminated areas or have contributed to the spread of contamination.

Lab workers are supposed to be out of the buildings by the end of 2010, so all the buildings could come down by the end of 2012 under an aggressive cleanup schedule for Hanford's Columbia River Corridor.

Three privately funded replacement buildings are planned, plus a 325,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Facility to be paid for by DOE and the Department of Homeland Security.

By the end of 2005, DOE had approved proceeding with the design of the Physical Sciences Facility and set a target cost of $224 million with a completion date of February 2011.

But as architects began to work on the project, it became clear the budget was unrealistic to replace capabilities lost in the 300 Area, and the building could not be completed by early 2011.

As an alternative, DOE is looking at retaining as many as four buildings in the 300 Area to supplement what could be scaled-back plans for the Physical Sciences Facility.

"To keep some 300 Area buildings may give the lab the most flexibility," said Megan Barnett, a DOE spokeswoman in Washington. "The important point is to stay inside the cost range and schedule."

DOE is in the early stages of evaluating whether retaining some 300 Area buildings could be an option, she said.

The agency is determining whether keeping the buildings would be safe and whether cleanup momentum in the 300 Area can be maintained, she said.
In the past, DOE has said all buildings must come down as part of cleanup because of contamination beneath the site and the contamination in or near utility piping.

Now DOE has told the city of Richland that it's studying retaining the 331 Building, a three-story reinforced concrete structure built in the 1970s with 115,127 square feet of space. It includes laboratories on the first and third floors with a mechanical service floor on the second. A three-story office wing on the west end of the building has 60 offices and a two-story office addition was added in 1996.

It also has a river water feed for an aquatics lab and an emergency generator.

The second building it's considering keeping is the Radiological Calibrations Laboratory, with 37,025 square feet for offices and laboratories.

The third building contains many hot cells and glove boxes for working with radiological materials.

It's also considering keeping a shop building constructed in 1980 with 22,048 square feet of space for fabrication shops and offices. It has four ancillary structures for materials storage and a paint shop.

For the buildings to continue to be used, replacement utilities would be needed.

If all or some of those buildings could be retained, a smaller Physical Sciences building would be built as a radiological facility immediately north of Horn Rapids Road. Some of the $224 million budgeted for the project could be used for upgrades to the 300 Area buildings.

The Environmental Protection Agency, the regulator for much of the cleanup of the 300 Area, says the plan to retain a few 300 Area buildings could work.

"I think the cleanup schedule can proceed mostly on track if they aggressively pursue relocation of the utilities so that we can clean up the rest of the 300 Area," said Nick Ceto, EPA Hanford project manager.
EPA understands the budgetary issues and the importance of laboratory facilities to DOE, the national lab and the community, he said.

The Port of Benton and the city of Richland had earlier asked that some of the 300 Area buildings be retained to increase interest among businesses in locating there once cleanup is finished. New utilities could make the area more attractive as an industrial area, said Pam Larsen, Richland's Hanford analyst and the executive director of the Hanford Communities.

Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., who has pushed for federal funding to make sure PNNL has the facilities it needs to continue its national security and other science research, "is actively engaged with the project," said his spokeswoman, Jessica Gleason.

"Congressman Hastings is committed to ensuring a long-term home is secured for the 1,000 scientists working in the 300 Area," she said.

Responsibility for paying for the Physical Sciences Facility is divided among the Office of Homeland Security, with 25 percent of the cost, and two DOE offices, the Office of Science, with 44 percent of the cost, and the National Nuclear Security Administration, with 25 percent of the cost.

However, the administration's proposed budget included no money for the project from the Office of Science for fiscal year 2007 and $7.9 million from the National Nuclear Security Administration. Hastings succeeded in getting $17 million added to the budget request in the House version of the Hanford budget.