The departure of the Department of Energy’s top manager for nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state as well as federal layoffs at site, concern the head of the advocacy group Hanford Challenge.
In a Friday email response to Exchange Monitor the executive director of Seattle-based Hanford Challenge said he was caught off guard by last week’s sudden resignation of Hanford’s DOE site manager Brian Vance.
“Mr. Vance’s resignation has come as a surprise, especially given the imminent treatment of low-activity waste at the vitrification plant,” Nikolas Peterson said in the email. “We anticipated he would remain at least until the first ‘glass logs’ were produced later this year,” Peterson said.
“His unexpected departure raises questions about the reasons behind it and whether the vitrification plant’s schedule is still on track,” Peterson added. “The combination of a leaderless Department of Energy Hanford office and a reduced workforce, with more reductions on the way, does not inspire confidence in the near future.”
Hanford, the site of a former government plutonium production facility, is DOE’s most expensive nuclear cleanup job. About 13,000 people, mostly contractors, work there and Hanford typically accounts for a third of the budget for DOE’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management.
The Waste Immobilization Treatment Plant, built by Bechtel, is supposed to start converting some of the less radioactive liquid waste at Hanford into a glass former starting in August. There are 56 million gallons of liquid waste in underground tanks at Hanford.
Vance announced his resignation from DOE March 26 in a memo to all Hanford staff. Vance said he would explore opportunities in the private sector. That same evening in Washington, D.C., DOE special adviser for the Office of Environmental Management Roger Jarrell told the Monitor Vance was leaving for personal reasons. Jarrell also hopes to announce interim leadership for Hanford soon. Vance’s last day is April 24.
While apparently not the cause of Vance’s departure, there remains plenty of unease across the DOE weapons complex about workforce reductions by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and billionaire Elon Musk.
The layoffs “reflect chaos and callousness rather than thoughtful governance,” Peterson said. “It’s doubtful that the current administration or Mr. Musk fully understands the critical cleanup mission at Hanford or the pivotal moment we are at in this decades-long effort.”
