Most of Chernobyl’s workforce and staff live in apartments and bungalows at Slavutich, a 40-minute train ride eastward across the exclusion zone, through a piece of Belarus and over the Dnieper River back into Ukraine. Photo: Eric Schmieman Soviet-era artwork in Slavutich, Ukraine, near a memorial to workers who died at Chernobyl. Photo: Peter Reina Visitors are advised not to walk on vegetation in Pripyat. Related Links: Radiation Threat Still Permeates Chernobyl's Entombment The town of nearly 30,000 people was built in the wake of the accident to house families evacuated from the blighted terrain near the plant. Designed on

Member organizations of the U.S. Green Building Council on Nov. 14 approved its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 2009, the update to the internationally recognized greenbuilding rating system. The update, to be rolled out in stages next year, includes reweighing of credits and more emphasis on climate change and energy efficiency. LEED 2009 also incorporates regional credits, extra points that have been identified as priorities within a project’s given environmental zone. During the public comment period that ended on Sept. 2, the nonprofit USGBC received nearly 7,000 comments from among its 18,000 members.

As workers struggle to remove remnants of Hanford’s old industrial mission, construction of a $12.3-billion state-of-the-art waste-treatment plant symbolizes its future. If construction officials master cost, schedule and technology challenges, the vitrification plant will restore production to the site and offer the region an economic boost. Bechtel Group Inc. Complex will turn waste into glass when operating by 2019. Bechtel Group Inc. Complex will turn waste into glass when operating by 2019. Related Links: Huge Cleanup at Bomb-Making Megasite Is The New Atomic Fallout The multibuilding, 65-acre vitrification complex will receive nuclear and chemical waste from aging underground tanks, remove

In order to build a new clinical facility for cancer patients on a tight Boston site, engineers and contractors had to devise a 70-ft-to 110-ft-deep barrier wall to serve double duty by cutting off groundwater and isolating ground vibration. They did that by installing a rock-socketed 3-ft-thick slurry wall incorporating 268 permanent tieback anchors, many located under a busy city street, and by cantilevering a lay-down area. Photo: William J. Angelo/ENR Slurry wall and tiebacks protect tight site. The $350-million Yawkey Center for Cancer Care is the latest addition to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The 15-story structure is being

“LEED is the tail wagging the dog.” So said David Callan, director of sustainable design & high performance building technology for Syska Hennessy Group, Inc., Chicago. He was describing the tendency to rely on “checklists” when designing and building an airport terminal. Photo: Aileen Cho Port Authority’s DeCota and Knoesel attended roundtable. Photo: Aileen Cho ENR and Aviation Week co-host gathering of airport movers, shakers. Speaking at a McGraw-Hill-sponsored aviation roundtable held Oct. 21 in New York City, Callan noted that building a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified facility amounts to implementation, but not innovation. “It’s not the be-all

Ending a 15-month investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the probable cause of last year's fatal bridge collapse in Minneapolis was the failure of gusset plates due to a design error and the bridge's increased live and dead loads caused by earlier upgrades and the traffic and and construction materials and equipment on its deck at the time it fell. Related Links: NTSB Blames Minn. Bridge Collapse On Gusset Plate Design Error See all past coverage in ENR's Bridge Collapse Update Center Thirteen people were killed and 145 injured on Aug. 1, 2007, when most of the

A change in presidential administrations brings new opportunity to garner support for infrastructure investment, including waterways and flood-control improvements, says Steven Stockton, civilian director of civil works for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Infrastructure investment is the economic stimulus the nation needs, he says. Engineers and public-works officials must convey that message to the new administration, Stockton advised the National Waterways Conference’s annual meeting in New Orleans on Nov. 6. Stockton cited statements made by President-elect Barack Obama during the campaign as demonstrating Obama’s recognition and support for infrastructure improvement. “I think, from the Corps of Engineers’ perspective, Obama

A proposal to build a 42-mile long, 400-ft-wide water conveyance canal soundly rejected by California voters in 1982 is rising from the mists of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta again. It is driven this time, in large part, by a heightened appreciation for risk and the physical fragility of the state�s water supply. Consider it a legacy of Hurricane Katrina. California Dept., of Water Resources Delta�s maze of tributaries and sloughs is major source of water Tom Sawyer / ENR When levees breach in the delta, islands disappear. A bypass canal would ensure a stable water supply. �Not long ago, risk

Louisiana has secured a $1.5 billion, 30-year loan from the federal government that will allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to bring the $14.3-billion Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) to 100-year levels by 2011. "While most Corps Civil Works projects are cost-shared, because of the special circumstances facing Louisiana after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, we were able to take advantage of a rarely-used law that allows the United States to pay the full cost up front, giving the state 30 years to repay their share," says John Paul Woodley, assistant secretary of the Army for

Any money from a stimulus package will mostly fund bridge upgrades and repaving projects in Pennsylvania, along with expanding variable message signs and traffic management systems. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation released Jan. 16 its $1.5-billion wish list of highway and transit projects, just days after the House Appropriations Committee released its $775-billion draft proposal. �While the economic recovery bill is not yet enacted, we believe its primary thrust will be short-term improvements and the candidate list is in line with that assumption,� stated Allen Biehler, PennDOT Secretary. Related Links: Questions Swirl On Stimulus Plan Mong the largest projects on