Oregon Public Broadcasting

The U.S. Department of Energy has a new manager to guide its Waste Treatment Plant.

That's the gigantic factory being built at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. It's meant to turn 53 million gallons of radioactive waste into safer glass logs. Anna King reports.

Imagine this job listing: Seeking new manager for an over-budget, behind-schedule plant! Must like radioactive waste.

That's the job Dale Knutson took. He's led several major projects for DOE in Richland, Washington, Colorado and California. He'll need that experience and a lot of top support.

So says Inez Triay. She's a top manager for Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.

Inez Triay: "Always being vigilant about getting the best talent, about being proactive, about identifying issues and resolving them before risks of the project get realized is something that we are going to have to do until the very last day."

Triay wouldn't say what Knutson will get paid.

He's under pressure to start cooking radioactive sludge into glass by 2019. And keep costs under $12.3 billion.