Atkins Nuclear Secured broke ground on a $20 million technology center at its north Richland campus in September.

The site is next to the existing Atkins Engineering Laboratory off George Washington Way and across the street from the Washington State University Tri-Cities Wine Science Center.

Fowler General Construction Inc. is the contractor for the building, which will have 16,000 square feet of collaborative office space and a 16,000-square-foot high-bay testing area designed for developing nuclear and environmental cleanup-related technologies.

“We are about connecting people, data, and technology to deliver solutions to address some of our planet’s most complex problems,” said Joe St. Julian, president, nuclear, SNC-Lavalin. “The (Advanced Technology Center) will be at the forefront with our other global locations, enabling the development and application of new and innovative ways of delivering end-to-end services for our customer’s projects.”

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holding Corp. is a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group.

“This is a big day for us and a very tangible demonstration of our commitment to this community and the important work being done at Hanford,” said Tom Jouvanis, president of Atkins Nuclear Secured. “We look forward to continuing our strong partnerships at Hanford and with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), WSUTC, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Catholic University’s Vitreous State Laboratory to provide cutting-edge solutions.”

Richland Mayor Michael Alvarez said the company’s investment represents a significant commitment not only to the DOE cleanup goals, but also to Washington State University Tri-Cities and to the local Tri-Cities.

“The ATC will allow students to be a part of engineering and technological innovation which will attract and keep future generations of leaders right here in the Tri-Cities,” he said.

Atkins Nuclear Secured is a partner in the Washington River Protection Solutions team that manages the tank operations contract at Hanford on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection.

It has been part of SNC-Lavalin since 2017.