Brian Vance, who has been the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) leader at the Hanford site for just over six years, is resigning and will step down April 24. 

Vance, who is the manager of the Richland Operations Office and Office of River Protection for DOE’s Office of Environment Management, now called the Hanford Field Office, announced his resignation in a letter sent to all site personnel on March 26.  

He did not give a reason for his departure. 

“I am leaving the site poised to make history later this year, when the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant begins to vitrify tank waste for the first time. This achievement is monumental and will represent an accomplishment that some felt would never be realized,” Vance wrote in his letter. 

“Time and again we’ve proven that talented and dedicated professionals, working together as a team, can overcome obstacles and deliver great accomplishments like few other places in our nation,” he added. 

A DOE spokesperson said details have not been announced regarding who will lead DOE’s local offices in the interim or if there is a succession plan. 

The agency’s No. 2 leader at Hanford, Brian Stickney, deputy manager and chief operating officer for the Hanford Field Office, announced recently that he will retire at the end of 2025 after more than 30 years of federal service, including the last 16 with DOE at the Hanford site. 

Nikolas Peterson, executive director of watchdog organization Hanford Challenge, said Vance's departure comes at an unfortunate time as the vitrification plant is so close to becoming operational.

“I'm not sure it’s going to be a high priority with the current administration to get that position filled,” Peterson said.

Vance joined DOE in 2017 and his leadership at Hanford began in February 2019 with a limited appointment as the manager of the DOE Office of Environment Management’s Richland Operations Office and Office of River Protection.  

During that appointment, he aligned operations to begin treating tank waste through the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach and concentrating cleanup work on the site’s central plateau, according to a release.  

He was named the permanent manager of both offices in July 2020. 

“Brian has guided Hanford operations with a steady hand,” said William “Ike” White, senior advisor for environmental management to the Under Secretary for Science, in 2020. “The men and women on the ground continue making great progress, and I have full confidence that Brian will continue to lead this team into the next phase, as we move towards actual tank waste treatment and cleanup completion in many areas.” 

In his role, Vance is responsible for a roughly $3 billion annual budget as well as oversight of the cleanup operations conducted by 13,000 people working for federal contractors on the site.  

Vance cited several accomplishments during his tenure in his resignation letter, including the removal of sludge and the grouting of the K Basins, the recently finalized holistic agreement with state Ecology officials and the Environmental Protection Agency to remediate tank waste and 11 consecutive years of treating more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater. 

At the most recent meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board, he also noted progress on cold commissioning of the DFLAW process at the vitrification plant and the moving of some waste from wet to dry storage among several goals anticipated this year. 

“I’ll just highlight I think we’re carrying a lot of positive momentum into 2025 as you think about all the things we’ve accomplished really over the last several years,” Vance told HAB, adding, “We get past big events like that (and) we go what’s next? Well, sometimes it’s good to remember those big events really weren’t that long ago and that momentum of the site is based on those events.” 

Vance has more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry, per biographical details provided by DOE. Prior to working for the agency he held management roles for CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company, Westinghouse, Areva and a development project to build three nuclear plants at a site in England. 

He also had a 25-year career in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear-trained submarine officer, retiring as a captain in 2009.