New presidents coming to 2 Hanford contractors with more than 3,500 workers

The leader of the Hanford nuclear site’s central plateau environmental cleanup contractor is taking a new job and will be replaced by the leader of Hanford’s support services contractor.

John Eschenberg, the president of Central Plateau Cleanup Co., announced Monday that he will be leaving in late July after leading work there for the past two years.

He will be taking a new assignment with Amentum, the lead owner of Central Plateau Cleanup, he said in a message to employees.

The new president will be Bob Wilkinson, now president of Hanford Mission Integration Solutions. He has worked at Hanford for 32 years.

Amy Basche, the chief operations officer at Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, will be acting president there. She has more than 30 years of experience at Hanford.

The Central Plateau Cleanup Co. employs 1,560 workers and Hanford Mission Integration Solutions employs 2,000 workers.

Eschenberg has led Hanford contractors since 2018, first as chief executive at tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions and then at Central Plateau Cleanup Co.

He also worked at Hanford from 2003 to 2009 as the DOE project manager for the vitrification plant and then the assistant manager of the DOE Hanford Office of River Protection.

“I leave with a profound sense of accomplishment and optimism for CPCCo’s future,” he told employees Monday.

Central Plateau Cleanup is in charge of most environmental cleanup at the 580-square-mile site in Eastern Washington adjacent to Richland, with the exception of management and treatment of 56 million gallons of radioactive waste held in underground tanks.

Central Plateau Cleanup work includes decontaminating and demolishing buildings; digging up radioactive and other contaminated waste and soil; treatment of contaminated groundwater; and operating a large lined landfill for radioactive waste in the center of the site.

Putting the K East Reactor into long-term storage was among the highlights of Eschenberg’s years at the Central Plateau Cleanup, he said.

Other highlights at Hanford included the placement of the first concrete at the vitrification plant and startup of the Tank Side Cesium Removal system to pretreat some of the tank waste for vitrification, he said.

He also is proud of work at Central Plateau Cleanup to prioritize the safety and growth of the work force and to help the greater Tri-Cities community by supporting education and nonprofit organizations, he said.

Details of his new assignment at Amentum have not been announced, but he said he would be working on pressing issues related to national security, energy and the environment.

Wilkinson will join Central Plateau Cleanup July 8.

“I have every confidence that Bob’s extensive experience and leadership will guide CPCCo to continued success,” Eschenberg said.

Wilkinson was named president of Mission Support Alliance in fall 2017 and continued in the role after the site services contract was awarded to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions.

He has 32 years of experience at Hanford, including serving as the vice president of environment, safety, health and quality at Washington River Protection Solutions, the Hanford tank farm contractor, before joining Mission Support Alliance in 2015.

Wilkinson said in a message to employees Monday that it was with mixed emotions that he is leaving his current job.

“I struggle with words to describe how impressed I am with this team and know that you will continue to be impressive, and I look forward to watching HMIS demonstrate that each day,” he told employees.

Hanford Mission Integration Solutions provides site wide services at Hanford, including security, fire and emergency services, land management, utilities, road services, management of the HAMMER training center and information technology.

The Hanford site was used to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War. Now environmental cleanup is underway at a cost of up to $3 billion a year.

This story was originally published June 24, 2024 at 9:46 AM.