New Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) members visited the EM-managed Hanford Site in October to learn about its history and cleanup progress.
Office of Environmental Management
November 21, 2023
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RICHLAND, Wash. — New Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) members visited the EM-managed Hanford Site in October to learn about its history and cleanup progress.
Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office Manager Brian Vance welcomed about a dozen board members during a driving tour, which included historic townsites, decommissioned nuclear reactors and other facilities used during Hanford’s plutonium production era.
HAB members also visited groundwater and soil remediation facilities, and the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, which will vitrify, or immobilize in glass, millions of gallons of waste stored in Hanford’s underground tanks.
After the visit, HAB members met with senior leaders from each of the Tri-Party Agreement agencies — the DOE, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology — to discuss cleanup mission goals and priorities, helping the new members better understand their role in the process.
EM Senior Advisor William “Ike” White also welcomed the board members and thanked them for their participation.
“The real value in our citizen advisory boards is in providing a voice for our affected communities, providing opportunities for meaningful interactions that inform our policies and priorities for cleanup,” White said.
EM Senior Advisor William “Ike” White met with Hanford Advisory Board members as part of their board member orientation.
Brian Vance, EM’s Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office manager, welcomed Hanford Advisory Board members during a recent driving tour of the Hanford Site.
Brian Moreno, a new HAB board member representing the public-at-large, said he was struck by the sheer complexity and magnitude of the EM site compared to the rest of the country.
“While there is much riding on this project to be successful, I continue to be inspired by the transformational opportunities for our community that are yet to come,” Moreno said. “I'm excited about playing an active role in this conversation and how we set up our future generations for success.”
The HAB is the longest-serving site-specific advisory board in the EM complex. It was chartered in 1994, following the implementation of the Tri-Party Agreement in 1989. Board members provide consensus-based, policy-level advice to the three agencies to support cleanup progress.
-Contributor: MaryAnne Wuennecke
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