Clean-Room Construction Begins at the USGS Woods Hole Science Center

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Clean-Room Construction Begins at the USGS Woods Hole Science Center

By Sarah Kelsey and Ellen Mecray
June 2005

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Above: A view of the larger clean room undergoing renovation. The facility will have two rooms, the larger at Class 100,000 and the smaller at Class 10,000. The total area of the facility will be 500 ft². Photograph by Sarah Kelsey.

Sarah Kelsey and Ellen Mecray
Above: Sarah Kelsey (left) and Ellen Mecray in the future clean-room facility. Photograph by Sandy Baldwin.

Plans for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Woods Hole Science Center's clean-room facility have been in the making for years, and this spring those plans were put into action! Construction began on April 27, 2005, and we are pleased with the progress that has been made. Existing laboratory space in the Gosnold Building (one of the two main buildings that house the USGS Woods Hole Science Center) is being renovated to create two nonmetallic clean rooms for preparation and analysis of geochemical samples. The work includes construction of a changing vestibule and a separate weighing room; the selection and installation of nonmetallic floor and ceiling finishes, doors, frames, windows, and lighting; and the installation of nonmetallic fume hoods and cabinetry. The rooms will have new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, including a new high-efficiency particulate-air (HEPA)-filtered air-handling system. The facility will also be wired for voice and data systems, specific laboratory equipment, and electronic security at the entryways.

Geochemists at the Woods Hole Science Center need a particle-free, nonmetallic clean room for their research projects in inorganic environmental chemistry. These clean rooms will be used by multiple geochemists, both inside and outside of the USGS, for the purpose of analyzing sediment and water samples for environmental contaminants.

This state-of-the-art clean-room facility will insure the integrity of sediment and water samples during the sample-preparation phase of the analysis. The space will allow samples to be acid-digested in a particle- and trace-metal-free clean environment, using modern polypropylene chemical hoods and laboratory furniture. The renovated space expands the laboratory-research capabilities of the Woods Hole Science Center to include water samples as well as a suite of contaminants for which sensitive analytical methods are currently being developed.

This project, which is part of a long-term vision for geochemistry in the USGS Coastal and Marine Program, is supported through the efforts and contributions of several science projects, as well as managers at the center, Region, and Program levels.

Woods Hole Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Woods Hole, MA

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June 2005

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in this issue: cover story:
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June Publications List