By Katie Pawlosky, NBAF Communications Director
February 2023
Halfway through the operational endurance period at USDA’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, employees are diligently immersed in a unique and critical effort to get the facility ready for science. As we have shared in the past, there is no active science at NBAF just yet, but there is a new energy around the facility as we get it ready for our mission.
As Dr. Ken Burton, NBAF deputy director, explains, when we were waiting for the construction contractor to complete commissioning in December, it almost felt like sitting on an airplane at the start of the runway. The engine was revved up to full speed and ready to take off, but the brakes were still on. Now that the brakes have been released and our team has unfettered access to the facility, everyone is flying forward with a great boost in morale.
During the operational endurance period, USDA’s work processes must be tested and validated in accordance with the building systems. Scientists will confirm laboratory set-up, evaluate standardized laboratory work processes for consistency and safety, and ensure equipment is functioning appropriately. These are critical initial steps to ensure all research and diagnostics can be accomplished safely and effectively.
The operations and science teams are working together to accomplish as much as possible during this period. As we run various simulations and tests, we can see how the systems and processes work together and where adjustments need to be made.
As an example, our Safety, Health and Environmental Management team tested NBAF’s extensive fire alert system this past month. This test required several NBAF employees to walk through the entire facility to ensure every warning light and auditory alert throughout the entire campus was working. Together, the NBAF team completed the testing in half the time that was originally predicted — an impressive task considering NBAF’s laboratory facility, which includes administrative office spaces, is more than 570,000 square feet.
In addition, our team simulated multiple high wind events to test the building’s systems and processes should NBAF ever experience severe weather. As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, in case of an emergency, the facility’s containment area locks down like a vault to ensure pathogens remain inside. To accomplish this, the system reacts to certain atmospheric conditions to further isolate containment from the rest of the facility and the outside environment by shutting off the air supply, exhaust and dampers and rapidly closing all the impressively thick tornado doors.
In some cases, this testing requires intentionally failing systems so our staff can see what happens if something goes wrong and what we need to do to bring the systems back online. This prepares our team for unusual events and gets them thinking about how to prevent and mitigate them. These tests are critical to ensuring all systems and processes work together to keep our staff and community safe.
As a reminder, before any work with biological select agents and pathogens can begin at NBAF, the facility and personnel must undergo a series of inspections and reviews by the Federal Select Agent Program. This step is required by law to evaluate the safety and security of any laboratory that will work with high-consequence viruses, bacteria, microorganisms or toxins. You can find more information on this program and its regulations at selectagents.gov.
It will still take at least a couple of years to transfer the full science mission from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York to NBAF in Kansas. But every day and every test gets us one step closer to our mission — protecting the U.S. against livestock diseases that threaten our food supply, agricultural economy and public health.