Portsmouth/Paducah boss Bradburne steps in at EM

After an eventful couple of days, the Department of Energy turned to a longtime nuclear cleanup boss to serve as acting head of its Office of Environmental Management (EM) following the departure of Roger Jarrell.

“I’m pleased to share that Joel Bradburne will serve as acting assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management until nominee Tim Walsh is confirmed by the Senate,” EM chief of staff Alicia Stetin said in a Wednesday email to staff.

The Stetin email memo to EM staff was viewed by Exchange Monitor.

Bradburne has been manager of Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) since December 2021, according to his DOE biography.  At PPPO he oversees remediation of the former gaseous diffusion facilities at the Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky sites.

“With over two decades of service at DOE projects across the nation and a master’s degree in environmental management, Joel brings a wealth of management experience and nuclear expertise to EM Headquarters,” Stetin said in the memo.

“I’ve had the opportunity of working with Joel on a variety of issues, and I am confident that his deep expertise in environmental management will provide our office with consistent leadership as we await the confirmation of Tim Walsh,” Stetin said.

Walsh is the Colorado real estate developer and former combat veteran who is awaiting a final Senate vote to head Environmental Management.

A former deputy manager for PPPO, Bradburne first came to the project office in mid-2009 as Portsmouth site lead. Over the past 30 years or so, Bradburne’s work life has “included shipyard, commercial nuclear, DOE, and foreign nuclear site decommissioning in various program- and project-management assignments,” according to his bio.

Bradburne’s appointment on Wednesday installs a longtime nuclear cleanup hand to serve as acting head of the $8-billion Environmental Management office.

On Monday, DOE confirmed that Jarrell, who led Environmental Management since April and was a senior DOE adviser for Environmental Management during the first Trump term, was no longer with the department.  DOE declined to elaborate on Jarrell’s departure.

On Tuesday Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued a statement seeking to dispel speculation that DOE was looking at cancelling the multi-billion-dollar Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at Hanford Site in Washington state. The plant is expected to start making glass next month from some of the less-radioactive tank waste  at the Hanford Site.