We Need Accountability at Hanford

Dear Senator,

The Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington is the nation’s most contaminated toxic waste dump. The government is building a plant to deal with Hanford’s massive inventory of highly radioactive nuclear waste, called the Waste Treatment Plant, to convert radioactive waste into glass logs, for ultimate disposal in a deep geological repository.

The Waste Treatment Plant is an important facility, but it is more important that it be a safe and effective plant. I am concerned that numerous technical experts who work at the site, including the Manager for Environmental and Nuclear Safety and five other top engineers, have gone on record with their concerns that the safety problems in the design are being ignored and suppressed. Worse, several government agency investigations reveal a atmosphere of reprisal against those employees who raise safety concerns. We need to learn from past preventable disasters, including the Space Shuttle Challenge and the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns that it doesn’t pay to ignore the technical experts.

While the national media has reported on this issue at length, Congress has said practically nothing about it. In response to the news that the schedule for the plant’s opening date might slip, several Washington State political figures expressed dismay at the schedule slippage, but said nothing about safety!

Please support the rights of engineers, scientists and other workers at Hanford to voice their concerns without fear of reprisal. We need legislation that empowers the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to provide independent regulation of DOE and contractors at the Waste Treatment Plant. Additionally, we need a solid plan to put the plant on the right path, and that can only happen with strong protections for conscientious workers.

As a taxpayer and regional neighbor of Hanford, I would like to hear back from you about what you are doing to protect our investment and our future. We cannot afford another radioactive white elephant in the desert in eastern Washington.

Sincerely,