DBB – NSF Ice Core Facility

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The National Science Foundation – Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF) provides long term storage, processing, and examination of ice cores from United States (U.S.) Arctic and Antarctic ice drilling operations. Due to the nature of how the ice cores were collected as well as the time frame in which they were collected, these ice cores are irreplaceable. Proper storage of these ice cores requires temperatures far below typical refrigeration systems to maintain their integrity for ongoing research. This project will deliver a new NSF-ICF freezer space, contained within Building 810 located at the Denver Federal Center. This program is intended to replace the existing NSF-ICF that was built in 1993 due to the aging equipment and needs for improved space use.

The Ice Core Facility is comprised of five primary functional programmatic elements: 1) Refrigerated Warehouse Spaces, 2) Refrigeration Equipment Space, 3) Shop/Storage Spaces, 4) Office and Support Spaces, and 5) Loading/Shipping Spaces. The project site is currently projected to be 19,058 sq. ft. contained within Building 810. Construction will be in accordance with the GSA 2021 PBS P-100 baseline.

A major component of this project is the refrigeration scope of work which requires the maintenance of temperatures in the ice core storage space, the examination room, and staging area without interruption during the lifespan of the system. The refrigeration system is a complete system redundancy (2N) which includes the following components: 2 transcritical carbon dioxide systems, 2 gas coolers, a total of 10 redundant evaporators, one control panel per refrigeration system, 2 electrical points of connection