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.