Jacobs announced that it has been assigned as construction manager as advisor, or CMa, for the Department of Energy’s Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility Near Site Conventional Facilities project in Batavia, Illinois. According to Jacobs, construction is expected to begin this year. The project is part of the larger LBNF/DUNE-US initiative, which has a total cost of over $1 billion.”
Susannah Kerr, Jacobs executive vice president, said the assignment demonstrates trust in the company’s experience in the construction of advanced scientific infrastructures.
“This project particularly showcases our in-depth knowledge in deep surface excavation and foundation systems, construction of complex research facilities, construction safety and intricate concrete structures and directly supports the potential for scientific discovery,” Kerr added.
Aboveground and Undersurface Structures
As CMa for the DOE facilities’ development, Jacobs will provide project and construction management services, as well as safety oversight support, to the surface and underground buildings and enclosures of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the department’s Illinois Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The lab’s DUNE facilities are geared for studying the role of neutrino particles in universal forces.
Jim Kerby, LBNF/DUNE-US project director, described the DUNE program and the LBNF facility as enablers of “an amazing and complex experiment system” for science. “Because of this, the construction of the science facilities require excellence at every level of engineering through execution,” noted the project director.
Previous projects wherein Jacobs demonstrated its capabilities in complex underground and deep concrete infrastructure projects include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Grand Central Madison program and the Thames Tideway Tunnel in the United Kingdom.
Other DOE Contracts
Besides the DOE’s neutrino experiment facilities, Jacobs is also involved in the department’s cleanup operations at the West Valley Demonstration Project site in western New York, as a member of the West Valley Cleanup Alliance. In November, the DOE awarded the alliance a potential $3 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the operations.
In addition, DOE awarded Jacobs in May 2021 a potential $6.4 billion contract over a 10-year period for the Idaho Cleanup Project at the Idaho National Laboratory.
