Jarrell out at DOE nuclear cleanup branch

Roger Jarrell II has parted company the Department of Energy and as a result is no longer the top federal supervisor at the Office of Environmental Management, DOE confirmed Monday afternoon.

Jarrell, the principal deputy assistant secretary for Environmental Management, or EM2, “is no longer with the department,” a spokesperson for DOE headquarters said in an email responding to an Exchange Monitor inquiry Monday.

“DOE does not comment on the details of personnel decisions as a matter of policy,” the DOE spokesperson said.

Two days later DOE announced that Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Joel Bradburne would step into Jarrell’s role and oversee EM until whatever point the U.S. Senate might vote to confirm White House nominee Tim Walsh.

Exchange Monitor was told by a source earlier in the day Jarrell was asked to resign by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright following a disagreement over EM policy.

The same source told Exchange Monitor previously that Secretary Wright was seeking to kill the startup of the $20-billion-plus Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

This could not immediately be confirmed. Sources in Washington state and DOE told Exchange Monitor as late as Friday afternoon Sept. 5 that the department was still looking to start making glass at WTP from some of Hanford’s less radioactive tank waste next month. This week, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said that Secretary Chris Wright in a phone conversation admitted to tapping the brakes on the Waste Treatment Plant. 

Walsh, a combat veteran and Colorado real estate developer, advanced out of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee in late July in an 11-to-nine vote.

Walsh, like many other nominees of President Donald Trump, still awaits a confirmation vote by the full Senate. Murray said this week she would place a hold on Walsh’s nomination. Even if Republicans pass a measure to approve several nominees in blocs, Walsh’s nomination could still be held up if not included in the bloc, an industry source told Exchange Monitor.

Jarrell, a senior adviser at DOE for Environmental Management during the first Trump administration and again early in this one, was tapped for the EM-2 role in April. He succeeded longtime DOE remediation executive Dae Chung, who has since retired from DOE.

During the Joe Biden administration, Jarrell worked as a top executive with the DOE’s environmental prime contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. An attorney, Jarrell holds a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Military Institute and a law degree from Washington & Lee University, according to his bio. 

“I’d add that we really appreciated how Roger made himself accessible to our community, and I hope his successor will do the same,” said David Reeploeg, executive director of Hanford Communities, a group affiliated with Tri-Cities Economic Development Council, said in an email.