Berkeley, California - Demolition is planned for a historic building at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, but the presence of asbestos in the building will complicate matters.

The building in question is a domed building that houses an outdated particle accelerator, a machine that enables scientists to study subatomic particles. The machine, known as the Bevatron, has been used in Nobel Prize-winning research. Two physicists, Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain, won the prize for physics in 1959, after discovering a subatomic particle called an antiproton in 1955. Three other research projects involving the machine have led to Nobel Prize-winning results.

Despite its illustrious past, the Bevatron is now an outdated piece of equipment, and the building it is housed in is deteriorating. According to Department of Energy spokesperson Lauren Martinez, the building is a safety hazard that’s becoming too expensive to maintain. The building is leaking, and doesn’t meet current building or earthquake-safety codes.

On Wednesday April 16, the DOE announced results of an environmental impact assessment carried out for the proposed demolition of the building, and gave the project the go-ahead, saying that environmental impact would not be significant.

Demolition work may begin as early as June, with an estimated completion date of 2011. A cost estimate puts the total at $72 million.

One significant reason for the expense of the project is the enormous amount of hazardous material the building contains. The cement walls around the accelerator were built to shield scientists from radiation while the machine was operating, and now the walls themselves are slightly radioactive.

In addition, the laboratory is expected to contain large amounts of asbestos, and possible lead as well.

One estimate says that the amount of waste present in the building could require as many as 4,700 truck loads, of radioactive waste, asbestos materials, lead, and other hazardous substances.

Some Berkeley residents aren’t happy about the proposed demolition, partly because they believe the demolition would endanger the community more than leaving the building intact.

In addition, many believe that the building is a local icon that should be preserved. The Berkeley City Council agrees, somewhat-it gave the building historic landmark status in 2007, but didn’t go so far as to forbid the demolition.

Laura Martinez says that the DOE believes the demolition can be completed without endangering the public, because the radioactive material emits only very low levels of radioactivity.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, California. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.