Tri-Cities biggest employer earns +$13M, even as workforce drops
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- Battelle earned $13.149M of a $13.5M performance fee for managing PNNL in 2025.
- PNNL received six A grades and two B grades on the DOE Office of Science report.
- Award mirrored 2024 despite a year-over-year reduction in PNNL workforce size.
Battelle will receive 97.4% of its incentive pay for its strong management of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2025.
The U.S. Department of Energy said Battelle will receive $13.149 million of the possible $13.5 million after PNNL received six A’s and two B’s on its annual report card.
DOE’s Office of Science released report cards for PNNL and 10 other national laboratories Friday.
The report card and performance fee echo 2024, when Battelle received $13.1 million out of a possible $13.5 million based on a similar report card.
DOE doesn’t translate the report card into a grade-point average. Unofficially, with each category weighted equally, PNNL’s 2025 mix of A’s, A-minuses and B-pluses equates to a GPA of 3.625.
Deb Gracio, who succeeded Steven Ashby as director on Oct. 1, hailed the assessment as a welcome validation of work at the sprawling complex of laboratories in north Richland and elsewhere in the Northwest.
“We are honored to receive this outstanding evaluation of our performance. It reaffirms PNNL’s legacy of excellence in scientific discovery and technology innovation, as well as our commitment to efficient and effective management and operations,” she said in a statement to the Tri-City Herald. “The contributions of our dedicated colleagues across the organization made this year’s success and impact possible.”
Major difference
There was one major difference between 2025 and 2024: The number of employees.
PNNL ended its 2025 year 6,043 employees, nearly 400 fewer than the 6,440 it had at the same time in 2024. Its annual budget is about $1.6 billion
PNNL previously confirmed limited layoffs in 2025 amid cuts associated with uncertainty in the federal budget. In September, it said it would eliminate 40 vacant positions and asked for 90 volunteers for layoffs as it worked to trim expenses.
In November, it notified the state of Washington it would lay off 68 workers by Dec. 1.
The notification, required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification ACT (WARN), said the job cuts would affect 42 workers at its primary laboratory campus in Richland, as well as three workers in Seattle, three at its Oregon sites, three remote workers in Washington and 17 remote workers outside of Washington.
DOE evaluates PNNL and its other national laboratories in eight categories on an A+ to F scale. No facility earned any grade lower than a B.
2025 Report Card
Marks reflect the fiscal year that ran Oct. 1, 2024-Sept. 30, 2025
- Mission Accomplishments: A (2024: A)
- Construction and Operation of Research Facilities: A- (2024: A-)
- Science and Technology Projects/Program management: A (2024: A)
- Contractor Leadership and Stewardship: A- (2024: A-)
- Environment, Safety and Health: B+ (2024: B+)
- Business Systems: B+ (2024: A-)
- Facilities Maintenance and Infrastructure: A- (2024: B+)
- Security and Emergency Management: A- (2024: A-)
What is PNNL?
The Richland laboratory is part of DOE’s national laboratory complex and cites distinctive strengths in material science, chemistry, earth sciences, biology and data science.
DOE and the contractors that operate the laboratory as well as the Hanford site cleanup collectively employ more than 19,000 Tri-Citians.
This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM.