A decade after work began on the $12.2-billion waste treatment plant at the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Hanford site in southeastern Washington—set to be the world's largest to treat "mixed" nuclear and chemical wastes—the 65-acre "vit plant" complex still faces uncertainty in cost and design, despite completion of 85% of its engineering and more than 60% of its construction.The difficulty of designing the facilities needed to turn Hanford's 56 million gallons of liquid radioactive and chemical wastes into vitrified glass has DOE and its main contractor, Frederick, Md.-based Bechtel National, cautious as they stare down a 2013 design completion deadline
Photo courtesy of Poet Poet Design and Construction crews construct a new weigh station at Poet's Liberty Project in Iowa. As the U.S. Depts. of Energy and Agriculture pony up grants and loans to help fund new research and refineries to turn woody waste into cellulosic ethanol, private-sector companies are building the first commercial-scale cellulosic refineries in the nation and promoting their chemical processes for easy conversion from waste to sugar to fuel.With more than a half-dozen cellulosic plants in development in the U.S., federal officials and private companies hope to prove wrong a recent report from the National Research
Photo courtesy of DOE Highly radioactive buildings are among many in Hanford's former atomic-bomb fuel-production area that are scheduled to be demolished. Photo courtesy of DOE Workers seal a waste disposal container, while excavators take apart the so-called 327 production building last year. In the last substantial cleanup of highly radioactive waste in an area of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Hanford nuclear-waste site that was once the core of nuclear-reactor fuel production for atomic bombs, crews will use a gantry crane and grout to move and seal a vault and tank weighing 1,700 tons. The pick, part of the
Courtesy of Mahlum. DIET Hospital is designed to use nearly two-thirds less energy than most Pacific Northwest facilities. Courtesy of the Miller Hull Partnership. ENERGY MISER At 52,000 sq ft, office building is designed to use 16,000 Btu per sq ft per year. Two small projects in Washington state are emphasizing sustainable design beyond the norm. The 38,000-sq-ft Peace Island Medical Center is designed to use almost one-third the energy of a typical hospital in the Northwest. In Seattle, the 52,000-sq-ft Bullitt Center is a net-zero energy-use project that is designed to produce as much energy as it uses over
The construction of a casting facility in Aberdeens harbor is a vital component of Seattles planned bridge replacement. Photos courtesy of Washington DOT Crews are nearing completion of the casting basin. A joint-venture team began reconstruction work this month of the longest floating bridge in the world, while two of its members also near completion on a key related facility to build massive pontoons.Omaha-based Kiewit Corp., General Construction Co. of Federal Way, Wash., and Manson Construction, Seattle, began work on Sept. 2 on its $586.5-million contract to rebuild Washington's state Route 520 floating bridge over Lake Washington—the longest in the
Krøll is known for making the heftiest tower cranes in the world, but its rigs are rarely seen in the wild. A contractor is using one to help build out a tunnel that will house new light-rail lines in downtown Seattle.As a portion of a larger $1.8-billion U-Link project that adds 3.15 miles of light-rail track in twin-bored tunnels from downtown Seattle north to the University of Washington, JCM—a joint venture of Jay Dee, Frank Coluccio and Michels Pipeline—had to stage its tunneling work on the same site as the program's Capitol Hill Station project. That job takes up about
Photo courtesy of Zellcomp Despite hiccup, the nations largest FRP deck proceeds in Portland, Ore. The U.S.'s largest installation of a fiber-reinforced polymer bridge deck can now continue thanks to the resolution of disputes between the contractor and Multnomah County, Ore. Ridgefield, Wash.-based Conway Construction Co. expects to resume its $6.7-million contract in mid-September on the 55-year-old Morrison Bridge after a summer of delays.The new 17,000-sq-ft, 50-in.-thick deck was to be ready for 33,000 daily vehicles by December, but now completion is unlikely until next year. Over the summer, the county ordered two work stoppages. The owner was dissatisfied with
The Brightwater wastewater treatment plant near Seattle is nearing completion. Although the job is a year late and carries more than $200 million in disputed claims, for the most part, Washington state's King County officials are pleased with the project.The $1.8-billion project includes 13 miles of deep-bore conveyance, ranging below the surface from 40 ft to 440 ft, as well as four portals and a pump station to a Puget Sound marine outflow station.The project started off routinely enough in 2005, but a failed tunnel-boring machine caused delays. With the mining on the tunnel finally completed this past August—nearly a
EnvironmentThe meticulous cleanup of Montana's Yellowstone River continues following a July 1 ExxonMobil oil pipeline rupture that spewed 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the flooding river at the pipe's Silvertip crossing near Laurel, Mont.Bob Perciasepe, Environmental Protection Agency deputy administrator, told a U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee on July 21 that 755 personnel on site included 610 people “currently in the field engaged in cleanup and sampling.”Exxon spokeswoman Rachel Moore says crews have deployed 57,000 ft of boom and about 277,000 absorbent pads to help sop up the oil. More than 60 private contractors—ranging from security to
After months of wrangling between the Calgary Airport Authority and the city of Calgary, the airport's $2-billion expansion has received a last-minute add-on: a tunnel underneath the 14,000-ft-long, 200-ft-wide runway. Rendering Courtesy of Calgary Ariport Authority The $1.4-billion terminal is already in construction and substantial work recently started on the $620-million runway—the largest project of its kind in North America.The two entities reached a tentative agreement in May, allowing the city to construct a six-lane extension of Airport Trail east under the runway to connect to the northeast section of the city, also keeping open the possibility for future light
