Former top Hanford site leader takes new job at Tri-Cities manufacturing plant

The Department of Energy manager who oversaw the environmental cleanup done by 13,000 workers at the Hanford nuclear site has been hired by Framatome as the site leader at its Richland nuclear fuel manufacturing plant.

Brian Vance started work for Framatome July 9 after resigning from DOE effective April 24 and posting on his LinkedIn page that he was seeking an executive leadership job.

At Framatome, he will replace Lance Stephens, who is retiring in October after more than three decades of service to Framatome, most of them in Richland. Stephens had been the Richland site leader for Framatome since 2021.

“With years of extensive industry and leadership experience, Brian has built a strong track record in the nuclear and energy sectors,” said Tony Robinson, chief executive officer of Framatome in North America.

“Under Brian’s leadership I am confident he will maintain the standard of excellence that has been established at the Richland site, while rapidly expanding our operations to support the tremendous growth opportunities in the nuclear industry,” Robinson said.

The plant produces fuel for nuclear reactors and related products for customers in the United States and around the world. The fuel made at the plant is used to produce 5% of the electricity in the United States.

The plant now employees 580 workers, but Framatome is proposing an expansion to the plant, which has operated in Richland since it was opened by Jersey Nuclear Co. in 1969.

Framatome would invest $375 million to expand its Richland plant to develop and manufacture advanced nuclear fuel and hire 220 workers for the project.

It already invests about $10 million annually in its Richland plant on upgrades and modernization, it said.

Brian Vance rejoins Framatome

Vance previously worked for what is now Framatome at its Lynchburg, Va., plant for four years. Before that he worked as a nuclear submarine officer from 1984 to 2009, including two years as a program manager, according to his LinkedIn page.

He came to Hanford in 2016, working for 18 months for Hanford contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. as the project manager to clean up the soil contaminated with high level radioactive waste from a leak at the 324 Building at the Hanford nuclear site.

In 2017, DOE hired him as one of two top DOE Hanford managers, with his role to oversee all the work related to 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in underground tanks and the vitrification plant.

When the two DOE Hanford offices, the Office of River Protection and the Richland Operations Office, were combined under one manager in 2017, Vance was named as the interim manager and then picked as the manager after the job was advertised nationwide.

Vance announced his resignation from DOE, saying it was a “very difficult decision,” just months before it was expected to begin treating radioactive waste at the vitrification plant, which has been under construction since 2002. Vitrification of Hanford site radioactive tank waste for disposal is expected to start this summer.

The Framatome Richland plant produces about 90 million uranium fuel pellets per year and about 2,000 fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants.

The plant holds a 40-year facility license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009, and for 18 years the NRC has concluded in its biannual reviews of the site that no areas need improvement.

This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM.