The president of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is taking a job with CH2M’s corporate office and will be replaced by an executive from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. John Ciucci, president of the Hanford Central Plateau contractor, announced the change in a message to employees Monday. The new president and chief executive officer will be Ty Blackford, a longtime CH2M manager who since April 2015 has been the executive director of tank closure and regulatory strategies at the $4 billion liquid waste program management contract held by Savannah River Remediation.
Ciucci, who has led CHPRC since 2014, has not announced his new position, but told employees his move is related to the recent changes and reorganization at the CH2M corporate office in Denver. The date of the transition to a new president has not been set, but the change will take effect as soon as it is practical, he said. “Ty is a familiar face with more than 20 years of experience at Hanford,” Ciucci said in his message. Blackford has knowledge of multiple Hanford projects, the Hanford regulatory environment, and Department of Energy expectations, Ciucci added.
Blackford started work at Hanford in 1992. When CHPRC was awarded the new Hanford Central Plateau cleanup contract in 2008, Blackford was working at the Hanford tank farms as director of the Waste Services Group. He was named a top manager for the new contractor — project manager for waste and fuels. His work at Hanford through the years has included leading the Transuranic Waste Program, the Mixed Waste Treatment Program, the K Basins Found Fuel Project, and the 324 Building B Cell cleanout, Ciucci said.
CHPRC has two years remaining on its contract, which includes central Hanford remediation other than cleanup related to underground waste tanks and groundwater. With the expiration of the Washington Closure Hanford contract in September, CHPRC also has been given responsibility for some remaining river corridor cleanup, and 322 workers on those projects have transferred to CHPRC. The projects include operating the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility, completing remediation of the 618-10 Burial Ground, and the Building 324 Disposition Project.
“We are committed to finishing strong,” Ciucci said. Over the next two years CHPRC has the opportunity to complete Plutonium Finishing Plant demolition, move K Basin sludge away from the river, and finish 618-10 Burial Ground cleanup, he said.
CHPRC announced additional management changes Monday. Karen Wiemelt, vice president of the Soil and Groundwater Remediation Project, also is taking a job at the corporate office. She will be replaced at Hanford by John Rendall, now vice president of regulatory strategy and engineering at CH2M Hill-BWXT West Valley. Bill Kirby, CHPRC chief operating officer, will add leadership of 300 Area work to his responsibilities. Tammy Hobbes will join CHPRC in a new position as vice president of the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility and the 618-10 Burial Ground project. She recently served as director of nuclear fuels and highly enriched uranium at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
