Budget Cutbacks Threaten Hanford History Museum

A newly remodeled museum that’s enjoying rising attendance is threatened by federal budget cuts.

A cost-cutting campaign at the U.S. Department of Energy has reduced spending for the Hanford Museums of Science and History, which feature artifacts and displays chronicling the history of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The Energy Department shares the center’s $1 million annual operating cost with its Hanford contractors.

Until last October, the museum had been named the Hanford Science Center and logged about 20,000 visitors a year. Attendance has quadrupled since a $1 million remodeling project and the name change last fall, museum director Gwen Leth said.

But as a result of the budget cuts, Leth and her full and part-time staff have been laid off by the Westinghouse Hanford Co., which runs the center for the Energy Department.

In addition, the museum will be forced out of its 6,100-square-foot space in Richland’s Federal Building if the building’s landlord, the U.S. General Services Administration, follows through on a plan to expand the city post office.

The Energy Department has not responded to a proposal from a private non-profit group that wants to continue operating the museum.

The group, the Environmental Science and Technology Foundation, wants to assume responsibility for the center under an Energy Department grant of $5 million for the next five years. The move would save the agency $1.7 million over that time, according to a proposal recently sent to the department.

In time, the museum likely would attract other grants and could become self-supporting, foundation board member Deborah Illman said.

Several groups have expressed support for the foundation’s proposal, including the Washington Historical Society, the Benton County Historical Society, Washington State University and the B Reactor Museum Association.