ARLINGTON, VA — The new acting head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch reiterated here Wednesday DOE remains committed to start making glass in mid-October from the radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Following his address to the National Cleanup Workshop, Joel Bradburne, acting assistant secretary for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, told Exchange Monitor he expects initial operation of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) by the current Oct. 15 deadline.
When asked if he was still confident of October operation in the event of a federal government shutdown, Bradburne simply said “we have been through government shutdowns before.” The EM official added he always plans for the worst and hopes for the best.
Sources previously told the Monitor and other publications this month that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright was getting cold feet on the long-awaited vitrification plant and that was the reason for the termination of acting EM head Roger Jarrell.
“It’s not the first leadership transition for EM,” Bradburne said during his presentation. “It won’t be the last.” He becomes the fourth acting head of EM this year. The others were Jarrell, Dae Chung and Candice Robertson.
Bradburne also said the cleanup office is awaiting full Senate confirmation of Tim Walsh.
Walsh has been approved by committee but has yet to be voted upon by the Senate. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) recently placed a hold on Walsh’s nomination, citing uncertainty of the administration’s commitment to WTP.
Walsh is a real estate developer and combat veteran whom President Donald Trump nominated to head EM in March. With DOE recommitting itself publicly to WTP, it is unclear if Murray might lift the hold or wait a few weeks until Oct. 15.
On a side note, Murray issued a statement Thursday night, blasting the Trump administration for threatening to fire large numbers of federal employees if a continuing budget resolution is not agreed to by Sept. 30.
This is the first time in several years the Office of Environmental Management is facing the prospect of a budget cut, said Energy Communities Alliance Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg. A House Appropriations Energy & Water bill would set EM’s budget at more than $7.7 billion, down from the nearly $8.5 billion in fiscal 2025. Of course the entire budget situation remains up in the air with the House and Senate yet to agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government open beyond Sept. 30.
Several speakers alluded to the workforce reductions that have already been made at EM. Los Alamos National Laboratory cleanup manager Jessica Kunkle stressed the importance of being understanding and extending “grace” to employees during difficult times. Along those same lines, DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office manager Mark Bollinger, said when an office loses 16 people in a day the boss needs to accept that you must do “less with less.” This also can mean maximum use of the contractor, he added.
As for Bradburne, he has been around the nuclear weapons complex for decades, most recently as manager of the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office. “Coming from the field I know what it’s like to run a site and live in the neighborhood,” Bradburne said.
Another morning speaker, the mayor of West Richland, Wash., Brent Gerry, said because of the 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous sludge at Hanford, DOE must use both glass-making and solidifying waste into a concrete-like grout.
“Both can run in tandem … for decades,” due to the high volume, Gerry said.
Representatives of the two companies that received 1,000 gallons of tank waste to grout and dispose of earlier this year said at the conference they will be ready to handle more. Waste Control Specialists President David Carlson and EnergySolutions Executive Vice President David Campbell both said their participation in Hanford’s test bed demonstration went well. The WCS disposal site in Texas and the EnergySolutions site in Utah each received 1,000 gallons to solidify into grout and dispose of.
The annual conference is held annually by DOE and hosted by Energy Communities Alliance and the Energy Facility Contractors Group.