Published Dec. 2009<\/SPAN> Published Dec. 2009Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business staffWashington River Protection Solutions, the Hanford tank operations contractor, is donating $500,000 to benefit local higher education programs at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College.The majority of the money will support science, technology, engineering and mathematics efforts at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College.The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business staff
Washington River Protection Solutions, the Hanford tank operations contractor, is donating $500,000 to benefit local higher education programs at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College.
The majority of the money will support science, technology, engineering and mathematics efforts at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College.
The remaining portion will be used for general scholarships and local small business assistance through student internships. Each institution is receiving $125,000 this year. An additional $125,000 each will be awarded in 2010.
\u0093Quality higher education opportunities, especially in technical fields like science and engineering, are critical to the success of both our company\u0092s environmental cleanup mission and our community\u0092s overall economic health and vitality,\u0094 said Chuck Spencer, WRPS Project Manager.
WRPS, which is owned by URS Corporation and EnergySolutions, with integrated subcontractor AREVA, is a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy\u0092s Office of River Protection and is responsible for reducing the risk posed by the waste stored in Hanford\u0092s aging underground tanks.
The company is working to transfer the waste stored in 149 leak-prone single-shell tanks\u0097some of which date back to World War II\u0097to newer, safer double-shell tanks. It is also preparing for delivery of the waste to Hanford\u0092s Waste Treatment Plant where it will be converted to a stable glass form for permanent disposition.
\u0093Both WSU Tri-Cities and CBC are dealing with substantial cuts in state funding, yet enrollment demand is up,\u0094 Spencer said. \u0093We want to help them maintain their programs as much as possible.\u0094
At WSU Tri-Cities, the initial $125,000 will address a number of needs, including upgrades of Energy and Environmental Laboratory equipment, student research projects in science and engineering, student internships to support local small businesses with a preference toward those in the technology of manufacturing sectors and those located within the Tri-Cities Research District, and general student scholarships.
\u0093This investment in WSU Tri-Cities benefits small businesses and employers \u0096 in addition to our students \u0096 by providing scholarships, undergraduate research, internships, and teaching laboratory development,\u0094 WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor Vicky L. Carwein said. \u0093In these times of tightening budgets and a growing demand for education, WRPS is helping economic development on multiple fronts with this gift to our campus.\u0094
The CBC funds are targeted primarily for the college\u0092s nuclear technology program re-established this past fall to train a new generation of workers in nuclear operations and radiation protection.
WRPS has committed to a base level of support for the program for five years through cash support, scholarships and student internships. Additional funding will be provided to allow expansion of the program and provide for some general scholarships as well.
\u0093The support from WRPS has been invaluable. Without the funds we could not have begun the program this fall quarter, said Donna Campbell, CBC\u0092s vice president for instruction. \u0093The initial donation was used for five full scholarships awarded to students enrolled in the Nuclear Tech program, and the remaining was used to purchase equipment needed to teach the class.\u0094
Spencer said as the contractor\u0092s demand for technically trained personnel to grow in the years ahead, the company will continue to work with both WSU Tri-Cities and CBC to look for ways to help meet that need.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"