 |
|
|
| | | published Monday, January 23, 2012 | 267 Views :: 0 Comments |
The following feature explores problems at the Washington State nuclear Waste Treatment Plant and quotes ANA member Tom Carpenter. ANA has been tracking progress at the Waste Treatment Plant or decades and recognized whistleblower Walt Tamosaitis at our 2011 DC Days awards reception.
January 17, 2012
By H. Darr Beiser From the USA TODAY
HANFORD SITE, Wash. – Seven decades after scientists came here during World War II to create plutonium for the first atomic bomb, a new generation is struggling with an even more daunting task: cleaning up the radioactive mess.
The U.S. government is building a treatment plant to stabilize and contain 56 million gallons of waste left from a half-century of nuclear weapons production. The radioactive sludge is so dangerous that a few hours of exposure could be fatal. A major leak could contaminate water supplies serving millions across the Northwest. The cleanup is the most complex and costly environmental restoration ever attempted.
And the project is not going well.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Monday, December 19, 2011 | 728 Views :: 0 Comments | ANA member Tom Carpenter and 2011 whistleblower awardee Dr. Walt Tamosaitis were interviewed on the Rachel Maddow show on December 15th. They discussed problems at the Waste Treatment Plant which is supposed to process millions of gallons of nuclear waste currently leaking underground in Washington State.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Monday, December 12, 2011 | 874 Views :: 0 Comments | The following article discusses the Hanford, WA nuclear waste treatment plant that ANA has long been concerned about. The article examines retaliation against Walt Tamosaitis, a whistleblower who ANA recognized at our 2011 DC Days awards reception. The piece also quotes ANA member, Tom Carpenter, a long-time Hanford watchdog.
December 11, 2011
By Shannon Dininny From the Associated Press
The federal government says a one-of-a-kind plant that will convert radioactive waste into a stable and storable substance that resembles glass will cost hundreds of millions of dollars more and may take longer to build, adding to a string of delays and skyrocketing price tag for the project.
In addition, several workers at southeast Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation have raised concerns about the safety of the plant's design — and complained they've been retaliated against for voicing their issues.
The turmoil has some in the Pacific Northwest uneasy about the plant's long-term viability and fearful that a frustrated Congress could balk at paying more money for a project long considered the cornerstone of cleanup at the highly contaminated site.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Monday, December 05, 2011 | 1048 Views :: 0 Comments |
December 1, 2011
PRESS STATEMENT
Contact:Tom Carpenter, 206-419-5829, tomc@hanfordchallenge.org
Seattle, WA: Hanford Challenge today sharply criticized a report from a team of contractorselected experts that it says downplayed the seriousness of safety culture problems at the Hanford nuclear site.
“The report is a veiled attack on safety-culture oversight. It failed to acknowledge some of the most explicit indicators of the vit plant’s flawed safety culture. There was no mention of disclosures from three important safety experts on the Waste Treatment Plant who have gone public and filed concerns about suppression of technical and safety issues and putting schedule and cost before safety,” said Tom Carpenter, Executive Director of Hanford Challenge. Carpenter noted that this includes the Manager of Nuclear and Environmental Safety, DOE’s top scientist on the project, and the former Manager for Research and Technology.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Tuesday, November 22, 2011 | 1337 Views :: 0 Comments |
Region’s Leading Hanford Cleanup Watchdog Group Will Ask for Federal Court to Order Action to Empty Leaky High-Level Nuclear Waste Tanks to Prevent Safety and Environmental Disaster
For Immediate Release Nov. 21, 2011 Contact: Gerry Pollet, JD; Executive Director (206)382-1014 / cell: (206)819-9015 The US Department of Energy (USDOE) informed Washington State today that it is not able to meet the court approved schedule it agreed to in October, 2010 for building the massive plant to turn liquid High-Level Nuclear Waste in leaky tanks at Hanford into a glass, referred to as the Vitrification Plant. Heart of America Northwest, the region’s leading Hanford Clean-Up watchdog group had objected to the highly publicized court settlement in 2010 between the USDOE and State, under which the USDOE was allowed to take an extra 22 years – to the year 2040 - to empty massive leaky, decades old, Single Shell Tanks of High Level Nuclear Waste in exchange for what USDOE and Washington State said would be a court enforceable schedule to build the Vitrification Plant.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Sunday, November 13, 2011 | 381 Views :: 0 Comments |
This is part of a longer, unfolding story of safety investigations and whisleblower retaliation at the Hanford waste treatment plant (WTP). Last year, ANA recognized the first WTP whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis with an award at DC Days.
Nov. 13, 2011 By Annette Cary
From the Tri-City Herald
A second official at the Hanford vitrification plant has filed a federal complaint, claiming she was discriminated against for being a whistleblower on issues related to safe nuclear operations of the plant.
Donna Busche, manager of environmental and nuclear safety at the plant, filed the complaint against URS Corp. and Bechtel National with the Department of Labor.
Bechtel holds the Department of Energy contract to build the $12.2 billion plant to treat high-level radioactive waste for disposal starting in 2019. URS, which employs Busche, is Bechtel's prime subcontractor.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Friday, November 11, 2011 | 379 Views :: 0 Comments |
Nov. 11, 2011
By Annette Cary From the Tri-City Herald
Hanford official Joe Franco has been named to lead the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for the Department of Energy.
Franco, the DOE assistant manager for the Hanford river corridor, will become manager for the DOE Carlsbad Field Office.
The office oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, the nation's repository for transuranic waste generated during the research and production of nuclear weapons. It's where Hanford's transuranic waste, typically debris contaminated with plutonium, is sent for disposal in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below ground.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Tuesday, November 08, 2011 | 661 Views :: 2 Comments |
The following piece highlights the Department of Energy's habit of under-budgeting nuclear cleanup projects and features ANA member Gerald Pollet.
Nov. 6, 2011
By Annette Cary From Tri-City Herald
Do not expect that the $115 billion estimated to be needed to complete environmental cleanup work at Hanford will be adequate to finish the job, according to the Hanford Advisory Board.
The board sent a letter to the Department of Energy and its regulators Friday saying that the estimate does not include cleanup work the board expects may be needed and also does not include fully developed cost estimates for some work.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Friday, August 19, 2011 | 829 Views :: 0 Comments |
The following letter to the editor was submitted by Hanford Challenge Executive Director Tom Carpenter. Hanford Challenge is an ANA member group and has been instrumental in our work with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
A Letter to the Editor by Tom Carpenter Published by the Tri-City Herald
Thank you for the Aug. 14 article on the recent round of concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant ("Vit plant mixing system raises safety concerns"). The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which is investigating safety violation allegations made by engineers at the plant, has kept communities and nuclear workers across the country safe for decades.
|
| read more.. |
|
| | | published Friday, August 19, 2011 | 970 Views :: 0 Comments |
Friday, Aug. 19, 2011
By Annette Cary From the Tri-City Herald
The Department of Energy has authorized its environmental cleanup contractors at Hanford to lay off up to 1,100 more workers in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
That's in addition to up to 1,985 layoffs already announced this year, the majority of which will be Sept. 29.
Hanford started the year with about 12,000 employees, meaning the potential layoffs announced this year would cut jobs by about a quarter.
That does not include the jobs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where about 50 jobs are expected to be trimmed from its staff of about 4,470 in Richland.
|
| read more.. |
|
|
 |
|