Bechtel National has turned to a senior vice president and longtime company manager, Brian Hartman, as it’s next project director for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.
Bechtel, which has a $15-billion contact that started in 2000 to build the plant to convert radioactive tank waste into a glass form, announced the appointment in a Thursday press release. Hartman, most recently Bechtel corporate manager of engineering and technology, starts his new position May 30.
Hartman, who began as an intern for Bechtel in 1982, becomes the permanent boss for probably the most expensive and high-profile infrastructure project at any DOE nuclear-cleanup site.
The new director is in the process of relocating to the Tri-Cities area in Washington state from Bechtel headquarters in Virginia, a company spokesperson said by phone Thursday.
Hartman will succeed Valerie McCain, who died suddenly in March after being diagnosed with cancer a few weeks before. In the weeks immediately following McCain’s death, Bechtel appointed a longtime executive, principal vice president John Atwell, to serve as the acting project director for the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP).
As permanent director, Hartman will lead the vitrification plant team through final commissioning of the Low-Activity Waste Facility and its support facilities, which will convert low-activity waste into a solid glass-like form for disposal, Bechtel said. He also will oversee an engineering, design, and procurement team for a facility to treat the Hanford Site’s high-level waste.
Bechtel and DOE expect to start vitrifying low-activity waste into glass logs by fiscal 2025. Until a year ago, the federal government had been shooting for radioactive operations by the end of this year.
In Bechtel’s release, John Howanitz, president of the Nuclear, Security, and Environmental business, called Hartman an exceptional leader with a proven track record. “His deep experience on complex projects and across all aspects of project management and execution, from development to startup and commissioning, makes him an ideal choice to lead the WTP project forward.”
Hartman joined Bechtel full time in 1983 as a junior engineer on the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station project in Mississippi, the company said. His career includes management jobs connected with nuclear, thermal, and renewable energy systems, according to the release. Hartman was elected a principal vice president in 2013 and senior vice president in 2020. He is a certified professional engineer and a member of various professional organizations including the National Society of Black Engineers.
