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PNNL'S LABORATORY FOR T H E E N V I R O N M E N T The
construction is nearly complete, researchers are moving in, and some of the world's most sophisticated analytical instrumentation is being installed and tested. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (PNNL's EMSL) in Richland, WA a $230 miillon, 200,000 square-foot facility devoted to fundamental, molecularlevel environmental research with a major emphasis on analytical chemistry. The laboratory's main mission will be to support the Department of Energy's (DOE) massive cleanup of its contaminated sites, an unwanted legacy from 40 years of nuclear weapons research and construction. With current technologies, the remediation effort has been estimated to cost as much as $250 billion. "EMSL offers the opportunity to put a level of science into the cleanup that is remarkable, as well as offer DOE an opportunity to bring together instrumental capabilities at the lab with the best persons in the scientific communitv " says Martha Krebs head of DOE's Office of Enerev Research which funds EMSL A key role for EMSL will be to contribute to the scientific knowledge base needed to develop new, cheaper cleanup technologies. "Much of the research will take a long-term perspective, looking for the revolutionary rather than incremental improvement in technology," says Thom Dunning, EMSL's director. In addition, the laboratory will investigate environmental and biochemical processes that 298 A
around the world. An annual budget of A major new $60-$65 million will support research and operations, says Dunning. Visitors to the research facility lab are greeted inside a soaring two-story lobby topped by a massive globed chandeopens its doors to thelier. Lecture facilities and an open area scientists can mingle and have inscientific community where formal discussions are also part of the
could lead to more efficient and rational cleanup efforts. EMSL is also a major resource for the research community. Time on EMSL's key analytical instruments is available to outside researchers through peerreviewed proposals, and the laboratory includes 60 offices for visitors. In fact, the laboratory has already signed more than 200 collaborative working agreements with university, government, and private industry laboratories worldwide. Yet researchers need not travel to Washington to work with EMSL's scientists. Through a concept called a "collaboratory", outside researchers will be able to run experiments, access data, and use sophisticated computer facilities at any time by connecting through the Internet. "The challenge is to engage the full breadth of the scientific community to become users at EMSL," says Krebs. EMSL's promise
EMSL's new home is impressive, stretching the length of three football fields. The lab will house 210 permanent staff and about 80 postdoctoral students from
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, May 1, 1997
design. Laboratories have been carefully planned to maximize the operation of the instruments inside. For example, labs containing sensitive instruments are built on concrete slabs separated from adjacent service corridors This feature isolates instruments from vibration-producine' auxiliary equipment such as vacuum pumps The environmental lab has been a long time in planning. EMSL was fiist proposed in 1986, but it wasn't until 1993 that the idee matured and construction funding was secured from Congress. During the interim years, the EMSL concept underwent numerous peer and program reviews (2). In many ways, EMSL is a unique concept within DOE. "Most of DOE's facilities, such as synchrotrons, are technique oriented," notes Dunning. "We are problem oriented and are bringing a number of new technologies to bear on the environmental issue." EMSL scientists cite several technological advances already available for the DOE cleanup effort. For example, researchers working with Jay Grate at EMSL and Jaromir Ruzicka's group at the University of Washington have developed a sequential injection analysis (SIA) system that rapidly separates 90Sr from other
tanks. However, one core sample from a tank can take six months and $750,000 to analyze. One way EMSL scientists have lowered these analysis costs is by using laser ablation combined with an inductively coupled plasma and quadrupole MS detection (ICPMS). Using a near-UV laser and 100- to 200-uJ energies, researchers led by Monty Smith have been able to detect numerous important elements found in these tank core samples at ppb levels including many radioactive elements An ICPMS system has been installed into one of the hot cells at Hanford that handles these high-level radioactive materials. Solid samples are laser ablated in the hot cell, generating submicron-size particles that are carried or transported by a constant flow of Ar through tubing to the ICPMS. The unique particle-transfer system is surprisingly efficient, with little material left in the transfer lines says Smith. "[The laser ablation system] is an example of long-term research with short-term benefits " adds Dunning Future work with this technique will focus on obtaining speciation information that will be critical for processing the wastes Getting high on NMR. Artist's rendition of EMSL's 900-MHz instrument.
radioisotopes in nuclear waste and measures the activity of the isotope on-line with a flow-through liquid scintillation counter. The analysis requires 100 uL and is completed in 40 minutes (2). The SIA approach replaces another method that takes a full day for a single larger sample. Grate has also used SIA for detecting the carcinogen Cr(VT), a contaminant in soil and groundwater (3). The scientists at EMSL will not have to look far to test their work. PNNL sits next door to DOE's Hanford Site, which has been called the largest and most complex Superfund cleanup project in the United States. During their 43 years of operation
(1944-87) Hanford's operating reactors released more than 30 million Ci into the nearby Columbia River. Today, Hanford has the dubious distinction of holding half of DOE's high-level radioactive waste (around 210,000 m3), with a total radioactivity of around 440 million Ci. Within the 530 square miles of the Hanford Site are about 1400 contaminated sites, including the much-discussed 177 underground storage tanks that hold more than 200 million Ci of mixed wastes. Over the years as many as 67 of these tanks have leaked. DOE scientists have worked hard to characterize the complex materials in these
It should be noted that radioactive samples will be prohibited within the new EMSL building. Instead, the lab will focus on proof of concept. Facilities for handling radioisotopes are available in nearby buildings. Possibly, the most radical aspect of EMSL will be its Internet collaboratory, one of four under development within DOE. As envisioned, the collaboratory would allow real-time communications with researchers worldwide. A key aspect is that participants can see each other through audio/video connections and can share work and data. Collaboratory designers have tried to model the system on human behavior. In fact, sociologists were involved in designing the working environment.
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Thorn Dunning, head of EMSL
The collaboratory includes shared computer displays and electronic laboratory notebooks, whiteboards for writing notes, drag-and-drop file transfers, searchable databases, and even interactions with analytical instruments—usually through a virtual control panel. The collaboratory also offers an educational element. Undergraduates from a consortium of eight Northwestern colleges and universities studying and running sophisticated instruments at EMSL over the Internet Recently students at Portland State University used the Internet to investigate porphyrin compounds using an ion-trap mass spectrometer (More information on the collaboratory is available from EMSL'
