The Hanford nuclear site contractor responsible for 56 million gallons of radioactive waste and eventually operating the vitrification plant to treat the waste is under new leadership.
Ken Langdon has been named president and program manager of Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure, or H2C.
He replaces Carol Johnson who retired in April.
Jeff Stevens, the H2C program integration director, had been acting in the position since Johnson retired.
Langdon began work at H2C on Monday and sent a message to employees saying he could not turn down an opportunity to “be part of something unparalleled in scope with such a positive impact on the community, nation and world.”
Most recently he was vice president of nuclear development at Energy Northwest in Richland. Energy Northwest has the Pacific Northwest’s only commercial nuclear reactor and is working to add an advanced small modular nuclear reactor.
Langdon’s team at Energy Northwest worked to create partnerships and collaboration between the private and public sectors to advance small modular reactor projects, he said in his message of operations.
“Conduct of operations will be a focus of mine, as it should be for us all, because what we do demands proper habits, the right training and procedures, self-identification of problems and a strong desire for continuous improvement,” he told employees.
Langdon has more than 35 years of nuclear industry experience, leading teams through the full life cycle of nuclear projects — from design and licensing to construction, commissioning, startup and long-term operations.
H2C was awarded the contract to be the first operator of the massive vitrification plant once commissioning of the plant is completed by Bechtel National. Bechtel National, which designed and built the plant, began turning radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form for disposal.
Langdon began his career with the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program, serving aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt and as a prototype instructor.
He holds a bachelor of science degree in workforce education and development from Southern Illinois University.
He lived in the Tri-Cities several years ago, moved away for work and returned three years ago. His wife, Babette, is a Pasco native, he said in his message to workers. Johnson was first H2C president
Johnson, a chemist, was the first president of H2C, a joint venture of BWX Technologies, Amentum and Fluor, when it began work as the tank farm contractor and eventual vit plant operator in October 2024.
Previously she was the president of Washington Closure Hanford from 2011 to 2013 as it worked to clean up most of the 220 square miles of Hanford near the Columbia River.
H2C has about 2,450 employees plus about 150 subcontractor workers for a total count of about 2,600. Its contract is valued at up to $45 billion.
Its 10-year Department of Energy contract, which includes some work that could extend an additional five years, covers the initial operation of the vitrification plant when commissioning is completed and work at the tank farms where 56 million gallons of radioactive waste is stored underground until it can be treated through vitrification or grouting for disposal.
The 580-square-mile Hanford nuclear site adjacent to Richland in Eastern Washington was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
The tank waste was left from chemically separating plutonium from irradiated uranium fuel.
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