Eastern WA nuclear site top manager resigns. No. 2 Hanford leader already is gone

The top local leader for the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington has resigned, which follows the resignation of his second in command.

Brian Vance has been the Department of Energy Hanford manager since fall 2017.

DOE’s deputy manager of the Hanford site, Brian Stickney, had recently submitted his resignation and his last day on the job was this week.

DOE said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that the process for selecting a new site director is underway and candidates are being carefully evaluated.

“The Department of Energy remains committed to the important cleanup work being done at the Hanford site and will ensure a smooth transition,” DOE said.

Vance wrote a memo to all Hanford site employees Wednesday saying that he “had made the very difficult decision to resign as Hanford field officer manager effective on April 24.”

His memo gave no reason for his sudden resignations.

Vance was the first manager for all of Hanford after 20 years of separate management of the Hanford Office of River Protection, which focuses on the storage and treatment of 56 million gallons of radioactive waste held in underground tanks, and the Hanford Richland Operations Office, which is responsible for all other work and operations at the site.

The 580-square-mile Hanford site adjacent to Richland produced nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War. It has been called the most contaminated sites in the Western Hemisphere.

Now about 13,000 people are employed, many of them working for contractors and subcontractors, on environmental cleanup of the site under Vance’s direction. The annual budget for maintaining and cleaning up Hanford is about $3 billion.

Since the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency began cutting federal jobs, about 50 of 300 people working for DOE at Hanford have been laid off, although a few may have been rehired at least temporarily in response to federal court orders.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Office of Personnel Management also have required federal agency heads to submit reduction-in-force and reorganization plans to further significantly cut the federal workforce.

DOE workers plan, assign and oversee the work done by contractors – including making sure it is done safely to protect the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and Hanford workers – and negotiate with regulators to agree on what work should be done, how and when.

Hanford manager Brian Vance

Under Vance’s leadership, work on the massive Hanford vitrification plant has progressed to startup of its melters that will turn radioactive tank waste into a stable glass form.

The plant, which has been under construction since 2002, is expected to have an initial run this summer to test glassifying some of the least radioactive waste.

It is a historic step and will be an achievement that some thought would never be accomplished, he said in his memo to staff.

He listed other accomplishments, including removing the radioactive sludge and contaminated water from the K Reactor basins, and filling them with grout to eliminate their potential to contaminate the nearby Columbia River.

After nearly four years of holistic negotiation with Washington state and federal regulators, DOE was able to reach an agreement on the path forward on managing and treating tank waste.

In addition, 2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater moving toward the Columbia River has been treated to remove radioactive and chemical contamination.

“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 in the memo.

Before Vance became manager, initially in an acting capacity, for all of Hanford, he was the manager of the Office of River Protection for two years.

His previous career included serving as a submarine officer with the U.S. Navy, retiring as a captain; directing product development for Westinghouse Electric Co.; and heading the complex Hanford project to clean up the highly radioactive spill beneath the 324 Building just north of Richland as a DOE contractor employee.

“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,” said Stephanie Schleif, nuclear waste program manager for the Washington state Department of Ecology, which is a Hanford site regulator.

“They both prioritized strong relationships with Ecology as a regulatory partner in Hanford Site cleanup,” she 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.”

The Tri-City Development Council vice president for federal programs, David Reeploeg, thanked Vance for his “tireless efforts” on Hanford environmental cleanup.

“TRIDEC will continue our strong support for Hanford cleanup, and we look forward to working with future Hanford leadership to further explore additional partnership opportunities between the Tri-City community and DOE in areas such as beneficial reuse of federal land, workforce development and much more,” Reeploeg said.

Hanford deputy manager

Stickney apparently had an application for the federal government’s new deferred resignation buyout program accepted, and his colleagues were congratulating him over the last week on social media on his retirement.

He was named as the sole deputy manager of the Hanford site in summer 2023, after serving in the position of deputy manager of the Richland Operations Office since 2020 and then also the acting deputy for the Office of River Protection for 17 months.

Stickney began his career as a U.S. Army aviation officer and spent the last 16 years working for DOE at Hanford.

“Serving as a member of the Senior Executive Service and contributing to the Hanford mission has been both an honor and a challenge,” he posted on LinkedIn. “Together, we’ve tackled complex problems, driven real progress, upheld our commitment to environmental stewardship and delivered value to the taxpayer with integrity.”

Hanford is on a “remarkable trajectory,” he said.

He posted that he is looking forward to opportunities in the private sector.