Lab gets okay to begin preliminary design of CMR replacement facility

Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham last week authorized the first stages of planning for replacement of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building.

By signing a memorandum for Critical Decision-0 for the CMR Replacement Project, Abraham gave the Laboratory the okay to hire an architecture/engineering firm for preliminary design of the new building, and to begin preparing a detailed hazards analysis. The decision also authorizes the DOE to begin work on an Environmental Impact Statement and begin planning public scoping meetings.

For the past year, the Laboratory has worked to develop plans and define the mission requirements for a new building that would replace the 50-year-old analytical chemistry facility at Technical Area 3. Laboratory Director John Browne hailed the hard work of the team that has been working on early planning for the replacement CMR building.

"I want to extend my personal congratulations to all who made this milestone possible," Browne said. "This is a great step forward for the Laboratory, but it's only the beginning of a long process."

Much of the early work at the Laboratory has been done by CMR Replacement Project director Tim Nelson of the Associate Directorate for Operations (ADO); Carolyn Zerkle, director of the Infrastructure, Facilities and Construction Office (ADO-IFC); and Juan Corpion, Zita Svitra and Dennis Basile of Deployed Services (PM-DS). Other key members of the CMR replacement team are Coreen Cassady, Don Landry, Leroy M. Martinez and Dan Thomas, all of PM-DS; Andy Montoya, Nathan Yost, Braxton Melton and Orlando Gomez, all of Facilities and Waste Operations (FWO); and Leonard Valdez of Quality Management (PS-14).

"With this project, we plan to replace a 50-year-old facility with a building capable of conducting today's mission with improved safety and security," said Jim Holt, associate director for operations (ADO). "We've proven with the success of the Nicholas C. Metropolis Center for Modeling and Simulation and other large construction projects that that we can manage major jobs within budget and schedule."

The CMR facility houses research and experimental activities for analytical chemistry, plutonium and uranium chemistry and metallurgy, and other support functions. The building is the largest at the Laboratory, roughly 550,000 square feet. The CMR facility initially consisted of six laboratory wings and one administration wing. In 1959 a seventh laboratory wing was added.

"One of the [Department of Energy's] critical missions is the stewardship of the existing nuclear stockpile, which the existing CMR serves," Abraham said in approving the memorandum. "The CMR replacement project will relocate and consolidate the mission-critical CMR capabilities for continuous support to the National Nuclear Security stockpile stewardship and management strategic objectives."

Preliminary planning for a replacement CMR facility has focused on using a much smaller area, potentially two separate buildings, incorporating roughly 120,000 square feet of laboratory space. The new laboratories would include capabilities for analytical actinide chemistry, material characterization and metallography. Preliminary plans also envision a separate, support building incorporating non-nuclear light laboratory and office space.

The Laboratory has awarded a $6.3 million contract for conceptual design of the replacement CMR facility to Holmes and Narver of Orange, Calif.

The DOE has hired Science Applications International Corp. of Fountain Valley, Calif., to manage the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement that will spell out the potential impacts of the replacement facility, within the general impacts of the stockpile stewardship mission approved in the 1999 Sitewide EIS for the Laboratory.

DOE has tentatively scheduled initial public meetings to define the scope of the EIS during the week of Aug. 12. DOE officials have indicated that they hope to complete the EIS within 18 months.

In early planning, the Laboratory's Project Management (PM) Division has examined the feasibility of locating the new building at Technical Area 55 because of the advantages of consolidated security for the replacement CMR and the plutonium facility.

The Laboratory has budgeted $16.4 million to complete the conceptual design phase of the project. Spending so far on early planning has been close to $3 million.

-- Jim Danneskiold

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