Fate of a nuclear waste whistleblower at Hanford

Nuclear Whistleblower Gives His Testimony Occupy the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) 18 April 13 “…… Between March, 2003, and July, 2010, I was the Research & Technology (R&T) Manager for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project in Hanford, WA. In this capacity, I had responsibility for about $500M of programs over the 7 year period.

The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project is a Department of Energy (DOE) project. It is essentially the largest project in our Country. It is the largest nuclear waste treatment plant to be built in the world. Bechtel is the prime contractor for DOE and the URS Corporation, whom I work for, is the prime subcontractor for Bechtel. Profits on this project are split 50/50 between Bechtel and URS so the financial relationship is closer to a partnership than a contractor-subcontractor relationship……

On July 1, 2010, I was suddenly terminated from my WTP job as a result of continually raising technical concerns and submitting technical issues. 

I am still employed by URS but confined to a basement office with little to no meaningful work and essentially no contact with URS management. I have been assigned to the basement office now for almost 16 months. I will provide more details about this shortly.

After my abrupt termination I investigated legal means to address this retaliation and found absolutely no help within the State of Washington legal system and very limited help in the Federal system. Before I describe what happened I would like to provide some more pertinent background on the Hanford site. READ MORE HERE: www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/tamosaitis-testimony-120611