Feds pick temporary manager for 13,000 workers at WA’s toxic Hanford site

KENNEWICK – The Department of Energy has picked Brian Harkins as the acting manager of the Hanford site in Eastern Washington just weeks after naming him acting deputy manager.

The former DOE Hanford manager, Brian Vance, resigned for reasons he did not make public, and his last day of work was April 24.

His resignation was announced in late March, a day after the last day on the job for DOE’s deputy manager of the Hanford nuclear site, Brian Stickney, who reportedly applied for the deferred resignation offered by the Trump administration.

In Harkins’ acting role he will be responsible for an annual budget of $3 billion of federal money and oversight of more than 13,000 workers, most of them working for DOE contractors and subcontractors at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The 580-square-mile Hanford site adjacent to Richland was left contaminated by the past production of plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program in World War II and the Cold War, and cleanup work is expected to take decades to complete.

DOE said in a statement that the process of selecting a permanent Hanford manager is well underway “with the department carefully evaluating candidates to lead the next chapter of Hanford cleanup success.”

Roger Jarrell, the principal deputy assistant secretary for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, announced Monday morning that Harkins had been promoted to acting manager.

“With over three decades of service with the Department of Energy, including extensive expertise in safety and health programs, quality assurance, nuclear safety, environmental permitting and tank farms operations, Brian brings a wealth of experience to the Hanford leadership team,” Jarrell wrote in a memo to federal environmental cleanup employees.

Harkins had been named acting deputy manager to replace Stickney on April 10. Harkins also has served as the DOE Hanford deputy assistant manager for tank farms, Office of River Protection acquisition program manager and deputy assistant manager for technical and regulatory support.

Harkins has worked for DOE for more than three decades, developing expertise in safety and health programs, quality assurance, nuclear safety, environmental permitting and tank farm operations, Jarrell said.

Harkins said in a message to Hanford employees Monday that he is “honored to serve as acting site manager, leading our Hanford team at such an exciting time.” DOE contractor Bechtel National is expected to start turning some of the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in underground tanks since as early as WWII into a stable glass form for disposal this summer. It will be the start of waste treatment at the vitrification plant after construction on it began 23 years ago.

“I’m proud to call the Tri-Cities home and I’m proud to be a part of such an exceptional team committed to safely advancing our important cleanup,” Harkins told employees.