What are some of the specifics of the RBL plan?
The Ricketts Laboratory is to contain 38,800 gross square feet (? net square feet) of laboratory and support space and cost about $30 million. It would be located near the building that houses Argonne National Laboratory’s Biosciences Division. It is being designed by Flad & Associates, an architectural firm with more than 20 years of experience building biocontainment and other specialized scientific facilities, and Affiliated Engineers, Inc. The architectural and functional design will provide multiple levels of containment and access control. The design and operational plans will ensure that all potentially infectious materials, including work clothing, are sterilized by heating or chemical treatment before leaving the building. This is to prevent exposure of adjacent facilities or the public to pathogens being studied. All exhaust air from the areas where BSL-3 pathogens are handled will pass through two highly efficient filters to capture microbes that may become airborne during h
