Local
Posted on Wed, Dec. 19, 2007
Ground broken for lab at depot
BLUE GRASS SITE ADDS SPACE, CAPABILITY
By Ashlee Clark
aclarke@herald-leader.com
RICHMOND -- Blue Grass Army Depot officials broke ground yesterday for a laboratory that will have expanded chemical monitoring capabilities.
Construction of the project, which will cost a little more than $1 million, is expected to be complete in June or July.
"This summer, there's going to be a real complex to ensure the safety and security of the stockpile," said Lt. Col. Tom Closs, commander of Blue Grass Chemical Activity.
Air samples from storage igloos at the depot are tested in the lab. At 2,500 square feet, the new facility will be four times larger than the current 25-year-old lab space, said Rhonda Shaw, general engineer for the chemical activity.
"This is going to make things so much better for everybody," said Bonnie McCoy, supervisory chemist at the chemical activity.
Space is tight in the lab, which is only 640 square feet.
"We've had a technical and personnel explosion and our facility can't handle it anymore," McCoy said.
The lab's expanded resources will also allow personnel to analyze liquids, such as the groundwater that sometimes is found in igloos. The current lab can conduct only air monitoring.
Along with three technicians and one physical scientist, a chemist and two additional technicians will be hired to work in the new lab, McCoy said.
Reach Ashlee Clark in the Richmond bureau at (859) 626-5878.