<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Study: DOE lab in Richland supported 6,800 jobs in 2013

The Columbian
Published:

SPOKANE — The U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland supported more than $1.3 billion in spending and 6,800 jobs in the Washington economy last year, according to a study prepared by lab economists and released Thursday.

The PNNL is one of Washington’s largest scientific research centers, conducting work in energy, the environment and national security. It performs much of the research for cleaning up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, but is operated separately from Hanford.

The study said 70 percent of its funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy, while the rest is from the Department of Homeland Security, National Institutes of Health, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other federal agencies and private industry.

PNNL, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is the largest employer in the Tri-Cities region and is one of the largest in Eastern Washington. It is operated by Battelle.

“PNNL is really an economic engine for all of Washington,” said Carl Adrian, Tri-City Development Council president. “Seeing the impact actually quantified in this report should be a real eye-opener here locally and to the entire region.”

Of PNNL’s 4,344 staff, 94 percent reside in Washington, working mostly at the main campus in Richland. The lab also has a Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim and offices on Lake Union in Seattle.

The report found:

• Expenditures in Washington were about $377 million in wages and $48 million in purchased goods and services. Through multiplier effects, those direct expenditures supported $1.31 billion in total economic output.

• An additional $1.21 billion in economic output was created by PNNL-related health care, spinoff companies, visitors and retirees in Washington.

• 76 spinoff companies in the state earned an estimated $570 million in revenue and employed 2,219.

Loading...