RICHLAND — Two of the major Hanford nuclear reservation contractors will have new leadership this spring, Amentum said Monday.
The changes were prompted as Scott Sax, the president of Hanford’s Central Plateau Cleanup Co. (CPCCo.), announced his retirement Monday after nearly 40 years in the nuclear waste cleanup industry, half of that time at the Hanford site.
“Scott is a true leader in our industry,” said Mark Whitney, president of Amentum’s Environment & Energy strategic business unit. “His larger-than-life personality, genuine concern for his people and track record of getting the job done are the real measures of what have made him a success.”
Sax has led work for the central Hanford cleanup contractor since CPCCo. was awarded a 10 year, $10 billion contract in January 2021, and previously held other key Hanford leadership jobs.
John Eschenberg, now the president of Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, will step in to take Sax’s position at CPCCo. effective May 16.
Together the two contractors employ about 4,100 workers.
Both the tank farm contractor and the central Hanford environmental cleanup contractor are owned by Amentum, with Washington River Protection Solutions owned by Amentum and Atkins and CPCCo. owned by Amentum, Fluor and Atkins.
Eschenberg’s position at the tank farms will be filled by Wes Bryan, the project director at the Defense Waste Processing Facility and Saltstone Production Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. He takes over April 18.
Monday was a bittersweet day, Sax said in a message to CPCCo. employees on Monday announcing his retirement.
Scott Sax
He’s had a chance to do everything he wanted and more in the nuclear cleanup industry and considers himself “immensely blessed,” he said.
He previously led Amentum’s work at the Hanford vitrification plant, and is well known at Hanford as the president of Washington Closure Hanford as it achieved a nuclear reservation milestone to complete most cleanup of Hanford along the Columbia River.
He also has experience at Hanford in the tank farms and at the Plutonium Finishing Plant and K Basins.
He’s still passionate about work to cleanup central Hanford, and the contractor’s role pioneering a new type of DOE contract focused on completing specific scopes of work, but “it’s time for me to focus on other passions in my life and pass the torch to the next leader here at CPCCo: John Eschenberg,” he told his employees.
John Eschenberg
Eschenberg is familiar with CPCCo. after helping with the bid development that won the Amentum team the central Hanford cleanup contract and his experience leaves him well prepared to lead the central Hanford cleanup contractor, Sax said.
Eschenberg has been president of the Hanford tank farm contractor since October 2018, and it has flourished under his leadership, Sax said.
Under Eschenberg the contractor has retrieved radioactive waste from three underground tanks prone to leaking and has done $750 million of infrastructure modernization.
It has started up a system to pretreat tank waste, the first industrial-scale processing of radioactive tank waste to prepare it for disposal in the 78-year history of the site. The project was completed under budget and ahead of schedule.
In 2021, Eschenberg was recognized by the National Safety Council with a CEO Who “Gets It” award.
He is well known at Hanford for his work from 2003 until summer 2009 at the vitrification plant, ending his stint there as assistant manager of the DOE Hanford Office of River Protection.
He left Hanford until 2018 to work at Savannah River and became the Aecom vice president in the Nuclear and Environmental Business Unit. He has 30 years of industry experience, according to Aecom.
Wes Bryan
Bryan brings nearly 30 years of experience in project management, operations, maintenance, radiological controls, waste management and emergency management to Hanford to lead the tank farm contractor.
Amentum said he has served at multiple sites across the DOE complex in leadership roles, including radiological control manager, operations manager, facility manager, vice president and plant manager.
The 580-square-mile Hanford site was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
Now the federal government spends about $2.5 billion a year to maintain the site and do environmental cleanup of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste and contamination left from its production years.
Most of the work is done by DOE contractors.
CPCCo. employs about 1,890 workers and Washington River Protection Solutions employs about 2,215 workers.
