Washington River Protection Solutions pledges $1 million to Hanford Reach Interpretive Center
RICHLAND , Washington – Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the company recently selected to take over remediation of underground waste tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has pledged $1 million to the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center (http://visitthereach.org/) to fund construction and educational exhibits for this world class facility to be built on Columbia Point.
The gift was announced at a ceremony in Richland this morning. The pledge will be paid over the next five years.
“Washington River Protection Solutions is excited about helping so grand a project as The Reach move closer to the day it opens its doors and begins to share stories of our community and region,” said WRPS President and Project Manager Bill Johnson. “The Reach’s integration of education, environmental stewardship and economic development activities is a great match with our company’s goals for investment in the community.”
Washington River Protection Solutions (www.wrpstoc.com) is a company formed by the Washington Division of URS Corporation and EnergySolutions with AREVA serving as a dedicated subcontractor. It was awarded the Hanford tank farm operations contract in May by the Department of Energy and assumes responsibility for the project Oct. 1. The WRPS team will be responsible for safely retrieving, treating, storing and disposing of Hanford ’s tank farm waste and closing underground tanks to protect the Columbia River.
The Reach is a $40.5 million, 61,000-square-foot facility designed to serve as a gateway to the Hanford Reach National Monument. It was designed by Seattle architecture firm Jones & Jones, who also designed the Seattle Children’s Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
The Interpretive Center will contain exhibits and educational programs for adults and children. Construction will begin when the Reach has raised 80 percent of the money needed for construction. To date, the Reach has raised nearly $24.2 million toward its goal, with $2.3 million coming from Battelle, which operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA for the Department of Energy. “When Battelle gave a corporate gift to the Reach of $1.3 million in January of this year, it came with a challenge. That was to raise an additional $4 million through other corporate donors,” said Mike Kluse, Battelle Senior Vice President. “Washington River Protection Solutions’ gift is a major milestone in meeting that challenge. We appreciate Washington River Protection Solutions’ leadership and vision in making this important community asset a reality.”
“The history of the Columbia River basin and its people is centuries old and vitally important,” added CEO Kimberly Camp. “The Reach will show the unique land-to-people relationship – how it evolved from a region shaped by the Ice Age Floods, to a shrub-steppe environment inhabited by Native Americans, to its role in shaping the 20th Century. Our challenge is to encourage others to help us to bring the Reach to fruition and step up to the plate with their pledge of support.”
