Brian Harkins is the acting manager of the Hanford Field Office. In this capacity, Harkins is responsible for an overall annual budget of $3 billion, and oversight of the contractors and more than 13,000 employees involved in cleanup of the 580-square-mile Hanford Site. In his role as manager, Harkins is responsible for the safe and environmentally acceptable cleanup of the site, including groundwater remediation; hazardous waste and facilities decontamination and disposal operations; treatment and disposal of radioactive chemical liquid waste; and the design, construction and commissioning of the world’s largest complex of nuclear vitrification facilities, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
Harkins has over three decades of service with the Department of Energy having served in many roles at Hanford including Deputy Assistant Manager for Tank Farms, Office of River Protection Acquisition Program Manager, and Deputy Assistant Manager for Technical and Regulatory Support. He has extensive expertise in safety and health programs, quality assurance, nuclear safety, environmental permitting, and tank farms operations, Harkins brings a wealth of experience to the Hanford leadership team.
Harkins holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Idaho.