Listeners will know the name Walter Tamosaitis fairly well by now. Dr.Tamosaitis is the senior executive who lost his job at the Hanford vitrification plant for his thankless role as Whistleblower. He has has filed a retaliation complaint against URS, the main subcontractor on the project. In addition, investigations are being conducted into safety or retaliation issues by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board; the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General; the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security; and Bechtel National, the vitrification plant contractor. He is represented in the complaint by Tom Carpenter, the executive director of Hanford Challenge. Listen to this interview. Tamosaitis knows the project inside out and this is one 'vitrification' window that's open for disaster. The chain of command from contractor to operator bears striking resemblance to the legal labyrinth that binds Transoceanic and BP. And the reasons for deleting precaution from the algorithm are basicly the same. So Dr. Tamosaitis got sacked for his safety concerns and the vit plant is going on line soon - much much too soon. This explosion is going to make the Deepwater Horizon look like a boyscout campfire. Here's the website: www.hanfordchallenge.org.
- KBOO