Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumWorkplace Climate of Retaliation at Hanford
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/cranestation/52801/workplace-climate-of-retaliation-at-hanfordWorkplace Climate of Retaliation at Hanford
by CraneStation | November 21, 2013 - 8:48am
On Monday, Hanford whistleblower Donna Busche filed a new complaint against her employer, Department of Energy (DOE) contractor Bechtel, alleging retaliation in the workplace after she voiced concerns over safety issues at the huge Cold War era contaminated site. She alleges "URS and Bechtel officials excluded her from meetings and belittled her authority." She also alleges that "she has experienced continued harassment, isolation, exclusion, and unwarranted criticism as she tries to ensure that one of the largest environmental cleanup efforts in the world is completed safely."
For Hanford history, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) summarizes:
Although getting any real information from a layperson's perspective is excruciating due to the secrecy of Hanford's operations for decades, we do know a few things. Hanford is the most contaminated nuclear site in the western hemisphere, representing two thirds of our nation's nuclear waste by volume. The government owns and operates the site, and it uses contractors who, for lack of better language, like money for nothing. Years ago, there was a plan to construct a waste treatment plant, to process the waste into a stable glass.
PamW
(1,825 posts)unhappycamper states
Years ago, there was a plan to construct a waste treatment plant, to process the waste into a stable glass.
That's CORRECT!!! There was a plan to construct a waste treatment plant to process the waste into stable borosilicate glass logs.
I wonder why that didn't happen. I wonder who killed that project.
The people that killed it were the anti-nuke "environmentalists".
They didn't want ANY MORE money being spent on nuclear weapons.
They don't want the radioactive waste problem at Hanford solved; because if it is, they can't complain about how the nuclear waste problem is so intractable and unsolvable.
Yes - let's all have a round of applause for the anti-nuke "environmentalists" who take HYPOCRISY to new heights.
The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe in it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson
PamW
pscot
(21,024 posts)back in the 70's. It wasn't public opposition that killed it. It was an inability to get the technology right. Hanford is a model of futility and cost+ contracts. It's also proof that humans aren't quite smart enough to handle the complexities of nuclear energy.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)> It's also proof that humans aren't quite smart enough to handle the complexities of nuclear energy.
Mind you, taken as a whole, humans aren't quite smart enough to handle anything else responsibly either.
It's just that the price for f*cking things up with nuclear is more widely known now.
pscot states:
It wasn't public opposition that killed it. It was an inability to get the technology right.
pscot,
That's just plain 100% WRONG!!!.
We have the technology right. Yes - we set out to do "glassification", and we got that technology RIGHT with borosilicate glass.
Borosilicate glass meets all the technical specs it needs to meet. We have the technology well in hand.
The reason it wasn't done was POLITICAL. People barraged Congress that they didn't want to spend money on nuclear weapons.
Cleaning up waste is always something that can be "back burnered" when there is opposition; and that's what happened.
The science and technology is GOOD. The POLITICS is the sticking point.
The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe in it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson
PamW