nuclear-news

Nuclear waste safety problems, retaliation against whistleblowers

The agency “seems to be more interested in paying contractor fees than in paying attention to safety concerns or to those who are disciplined for raising them,”

Hanford Nuclear-Waste Safety May Not Be Assured, Markey Says,  By Brian Wingfield Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) –– The U.S. Energy Department may not have adequately responded to safety questions and allegations of retaliation against whistle-blowers at a nuclear-waste treatment plant in Washington state, Representative Edward Markey said.

The agency hasn’t strengthened the safety culture at the department’s
Hanford Site, Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a seven-page
letter today to Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Nine nuclear reactors and processing facilities produced plutonium at
Hanford, which operated from 1944 to 1987. The man- made radioactive
element was used in atomic bombs, including the one dropped on
Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 that helped to end World War II. Workers are
trying to clean up millions of gallons of toxic waste at the complex.

“My understanding is that despite the emergence of new, serious
complaints,” including punishment of employees raising safety issues,
“and its own studies that show the project is seriously troubled,” the
department “continues to assert that the technical matters raised by
these individuals are inaccurate,” Markey said in the letter……
Hydrogen Bubbles

Walt Tamosaitis, a research manager at the treatment plant, was
demoted after alerting Energy Department contractors in 2010 about his
concerns that improper treatment of high-level waste might cause
plutonium to settle and hydrogen-gas bubbles might form, leading to an
explosion, according to Markey’s letter.

The agency “seems to be more interested in paying contractor fees than
in paying attention to safety concerns or to those who are disciplined
for raising them,” Markey said today in a statement.

He asked Chu to provide answers by Dec. 16 about the forecast cost of
the treatment plant and steps the department took to investigate and
resolve issues raised by the defense nuclear-safety board…
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-22/hanford-nuclear-waste-safety-may-not-be-assured-markey-says.html

November 23, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, USA