America’s Fukushima? - Newsweek
A poster from the recent Occupy Portland protests called Hanford
"North America's Fukushima." That isn't just left-wing, anti-corporate
fear mongering - a catastrophic accident involving radioactive waste
scares the two most prominent Hanford whistle-blowers, nuclear engineer
Walter L. Tamosaitis, fired from the site last month, and Donna Busche, a
nuclear safety compliance officer who remains employed by URS, a
Hanford subcontractor, even as her legal complaints - which include
allegations of everything from pressure to downplay safety concerns to
sexual harassment - proceed. Unprompted, Busche told Newsweek she is worried about "when 'Fukushima Day' hits."
Last year, nuclear scientist Donald H. Alexander, formerly of
the DOE, likened Hanford to the doomed 1986 Challenger mission, a
disaster arising from an excess of confidence.
Speaking of the cosmos: Some have suggested we launch our
nuclear waste into space, to be swallowed by the sun. That may sound
insane, but spend a little time sorting through the Hanford morass, and
just about anything other than the status quo will seem appealing.
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