Veteran Hanford Engineer Questions Vit Plant

Full story at DCBureau.org

Veteran Hanford Engineer Says DOE’s Multi-Billion Dollar Hanford Nuclear Waste Processing Plant Might Not Work Properly and Has Serious Potential Safety Problem

A lead engineer at the $12.3 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation says the Department of Energy -- along with lead contractor Bechtel National, Inc. -- cannot assure the public that the plant will work properly and safely when it is completed about a decade from now despite public statements to the contrary and $5 billion spent so far.

At risk are the Columbia River as well as the health and safety of people in southeast Washington state.

Dr. Walter Tamosaitis was the research and technology manager and the deputy chief processing engineer for URS Corporation, a subcontractor to Bechtel. Since 2003, Tamosaitis oversaw a $500 million budget covering some of the waste treatment plant's most crucial design functions.

On July 2, Tamosaitis was escorted out of the building "like an absolute felon," he said, and stripped of his position after raising a series of safety and operational concerns.

Full story at DCBureau.org