SEATTLE — The Department of Energy (DOE) has contributed more than a million dollars to help contractors at the Hanford Nuclear fight a whistleblower complaint.
In 2010, Dr. Walter Tamosaitis reported his safety concerns over the design of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP). Ultimately those concerns led to the suspension of construction of a key part of the plant until they were addressed.
When Tamosaitis was reassigned to another post after announcing his concerns, he filed a whistle blower complaint to get his job back.
Today, the watchdog group Hanford Challenge obtained DOE documents that show contractors were eligible for nearly two million dollars in tax payer dollars to pay for legal fees to fight Tamosaitis’s case.
Hanford Challenge Executive Director Tom Carpenter said using government money to help multi-billion dollar companies fight charges from a respected whistleblower could discourage other employees from pointing out serious safety flaws.
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