The manager of the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property announced Wednesday he is leaving the department.
“After much consideration, I have made the very difficult decision to resign as Hanford Field Office manager, effective on April 24, 2025,” said Brian Vance, Hanford Site manager in a Wednesday memo to site staff. “It has been my honor to have worked with all of you these past seven years, and I will remember my time at Hanford as the most rewarding of my professional career. “
The memo was viewed by Exchange Monitor.
“As I prepare to leave federal service and pursue opportunities in the private sector, I am confident that our One Hanford team of federal workers, contractor teammates and regulatory partners will continue to progress the important work of the site,” Vance said.
Vance added during his tenure there have been many Environmental Management office milestones including the Waste Immobilization and Treatment Plant being built and expected to start turning some of Hanford’s less radioactive tank waste into glass form this August. “This achievement is monumental and will represent an accomplishment that some felt would never be realized,” Vance said.
Decades of plutonium production at Hanford left the site with 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste stored in underground tanks.
In his departure memo, Vance also cited remediation of the K-Basin, steps to prevent contamination of the Columbia River and the so-called holistic agreement on Hanford cleanup plans with Washington state and the Environmental Protection Agency as key accomplishments in recent years.
“Vance is responsible for an overall annual budget of nearly $3 billion, and oversight of the contractors and more than 13,000 employees involved in cleanup of the 580-square-mile Hanford Site,” according to his DOE online bio.
Before coming to Hanford, Vance worked in supervisory roles for Westinghouse Electric and Areva. He also spent 25 years in the U.S. Navy where he was a submarine officer.
Meanwhile, Brian Stickney, deputy manager at Hanford, worked his last day with the property on Wednesday.
“We have appreciated the partnership and collaboration we have had with the U.S. Department of Energy under Brian Vance and Brian Stickney’s leadership,” Stephanie Schleif , nuclear waste program for the Washington Department of Ecology, said in a statement.
“These relationships laid the groundwork for us to make significant progress and build momentum, including the holistic agreement for the site’s tank waste earlier this year,” Schleif went on to say. “We wish the ‘Brians’ all the best in their next chapter, and want to thank them for everything they have done in partnership with Ecology for Hanford cleanup.”
Office of Environmental Management senior adviser Roger Jarrell said Wednesday night the cleanup office hopes to announce interim management soon. Jarrell spoke to the Monitor briefly following a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Hanford Cleanup Caucus.
President Donald Trump has made curbing the size of the federal government a major priority. Since Jan. 20, the former head of Environmental Management, Candice Robertson, as well as cleanup site managers at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and now the Hanford Site, have all resigned or retired from the federal government.
