59 



AppcBdlz n 



Laboratorr Faciliti^f Hav« Limited 

 Agznciea' ProdnccivlCy aad SeleociAc 

 CapabiliUea 



case to raise the temperature in an ultra-low temperature freezer to the 

 point where 62 cell lines were lost, wiping out one researcher's work 

 conducted over a 2-year penod. Similarly, the work of over 200 nih 

 scientists was virtually halted for 1 week when an old circuit breaker 

 malfunctioned, nist experiences approximately 20 to 30 power outages 

 each year that, although typically lasting less than a second, have caused 

 computer systems to shut down, resulting in the loss of irretrievable data 

 for long-term experiments, and damaged lasers and other sensitive 

 electronic equipment 



In addition, research animals and plants were lost in some instances 

 because of hvac malfunctions. For example, a thermostat malfunction in 

 an NIH laboratory caused temperatures to rise above 90 degrees 

 Fahrenheit, resulting in the death of 421 laboratory rats. Similarly, an hvac 

 failure at an Army laboratory resulted m the death of over 1,000 laboratory 

 animals, while a boiler failure in a barc greenhouse ruined a m^or plant 

 disease experiment. 



NIH has imposed a moratorium on adding fume hoods in the clinical 

 center's laboratories because the demands on the ventilating systems have 

 exceeded the available capacity. According to nih officials, the capacity of 

 the building's ventilation systems is deficient by 50 percent, posing a 

 potential safety risk that air between laboratories and public spaces in the 

 clinical center might be cross-contaminated. Although the clinical center's 

 ventilating systems onginally were designed to support 180 fiime hoods, 

 more than 226 fume hoods currently are in use. nih officials told us that as 

 a result fume hoods currently are operating at only 25 to 40 percent of 

 their designed capacity because of the demands on and age of the 

 ventilating systems. Currently, nih scientists carmot add a fume hood in a 

 clinical center laboratory without correspondingly reducing use 

 elsewhere. To expand their research programs, scientists would either 

 have to perform research in another building where fume hoods are 

 available or wait until a fume hood became available. 



nih building engineers also told us that preparing space in the clinical 

 center for such new diagnostic and treatment equipment as positron 

 emission tomography scanners and other large and heavy advanced 

 research equipment sometimes has taken years. The time needed to 

 prepare this space has delayed important clinical studies and has severely 

 inhibited researchers' ability to perform various types of advanced 

 research, according to nih research managers. For example, development 

 of a medical technologies area within the climcal center is nearly 



