Chris Kemp
Proven Experience
Mr. Chris Kemp has 40 years of experience in nuclear operations, waste management, facility support, and managing stakeholder interests within the Department of Energy. He has experience with forming and leading teams, readiness assessments, and startup on high visibility projects, providing performance monitoring and oversight on complex projects from inception through completion.
Mr. Kemp has demonstrated leadership in DOE-wide operational and regulatory work in all aspects of Radioactive Waste Policies and Classification, RCRA, CERCLA, TSCA, Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) closure requirements, Clean Air Act (CAA) radioactive, toxins, and criteria pollutant permit applications and negotiated many approvals, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Clean Water Act (CWA) including developing and negotiating permits/approvals in all these regulations, both within and outside of the regulatory agencies.
Mr. Kemp has served as the DOE complex wide co-chair of the Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility Review Group (LFRG) of all DOE wide disposal facilities. Mr. Kemp also served the DOE-EM HQ on a detail basis as the supervisor fo the EM regulatory affairs group.
Mr. Kemp has an M.S. in Environmental Science and a B.S.in Soil Physics and Agronomy from Washington State University. He is a Certified Hazardous Material Manager.
Sustainable Results
As Director of the Department of Energy Office of River Protection Environmental Compliance, Safety, & Health Division, Mr. Kemp directed all regulatory submittal milestones and negotiated regulatory milestones and agreements at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant and Tank Farms project. He was the Tri Party Agreement lead for Hanford tank retrieval milestones through Consent Decree Negotiations (M-045 series) from 2008 through 2016 and served as the DOE lead for creating both the Tri-Party Agreement and DOE 435.1 tank closure plans for Hanford Waste Management Area – C.
He served as co-lead for the Hanford Site National Environmental Policy Act Tank Closure and Waste Management EIS (TC&WM EIS) Record of Decision (ROD) Integrated Project Team. He led difficult and contentious M-045-00 Hanford Site permitting and Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) milestone efforts with regulators and Hanford Site contractors, including negotiations for tank S-102 retrieval, soil investigations at the Hanford single-shell tanks, and implementation of controls to mitigate moisture infiltration into Hanford Site waste areas, and lead to a single DOE Hanford position on regulatory protection of groundwater. He led the ORP response to the General Accounting Office investigation on ORP responsible for fifty-nine inactive miscellaneous underground storage tanks. In addition, led five comprehensive assessments and audits of the Hanford Tank Operations Contractor on various topical areas while at ORP.
Mr. Kemp was a seven-year ORP primary voting member for the Low-Level Waste Disposal Federal Review Group (LFRG), which reviews all DOE Radioactive Waste Policy waste disposal facilities for compliance with DOE Order 435.1 (Waste Management) and has mentored and led the next generation of ORP staff representing LFRG membership, along with the development of the draft revision to DOE Order and Guide 435.1. and led the DOE Headquarter LFRG review of the DOE Idaho Calcine Bin Set and the Remote Handled – Low Level Waste Disposal Facility Performance Assessment(s).
He was the DOE-ORP lead for both the Central Plateau Strategy and the IS-1 operable unit strategy from 2009 through 2016, integrating activities with the DOE – Richland Operations office and integrated with the DOE Richland Operations Office for expedited vadose zone and groundwater cleanup planning related to the WMA – C, perched water remediation under WMA-B, WMA-U, and ERDF leachate de-listing.
As Environmental Supervisor for CH2M Hill Hanford Group Inc., Mr. Kemp supervised seven regulatory technical specialists for all the Hanford Tank Waste Contractor Single Shell Tank retrieval projects, Inactive Single Shell Tank activities, and 222-S Laboratories for the Hanford Tank Waste. In this capacity, he was responsible for regulatory activites for all Hanford Site single-shell tank retrieval activities in preparation for support of the Waste Treatment Plant mission, including RCRA, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Underground Storage Tanks, CAA, CWA, and NEPA/SEPA requirements and submittals for project to the DOE. He developed the Tank Farm Environmental Compliance Manual which details the entire regulatory compliance posture for the Tank Farms contract from 2002 to 2008 and has been adopted in part by the Washington River Protections Solutions and was still in use as of 2022.