A second senior contractor official on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant has filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Labor, alleging retaliation by WTP project contractor Bechtel National and subcontractor URS for raising safety issues. The complaint was filed late last week by Donna Busche, who works for URS and holds the position of Manager of Environmental and Nuclear Safety on the Hanford vit plant. Busche has alleged, in part, that a reprimand she received last month is intended as part of a campaign to remove her from the WTP after raising safety issues and filing complaints of sexual discrimination and a hostile work environment. “She believes that the aggressive actions by URS are intended to discredit her technically on her concerns related to the inadequacy of the WTP design and safety basis documents that are noncompliant with 10 CFR 830,” the complaint says.
In a written response Nov. 13, Busche’s attorney, Jack Sheridan, said, “Ms. Busche can only be removed from her position if the DOE contracting officer approves her removal. Ms. Busche alleges that the letter of reprimand is the beginning of a campaign to paper her file to justify her eventual removal.” Busche is seeking that Bechtel National and URS, as well as the Department of Energy, be directed to “conduct regularly scheduled independent third party reviews” of the WTP safety culture and that the WTP project be directed “to establish an issue resolution process that crosscuts WTP divisions and includes the DOE.” In addition, Busche is seeking “payment equal to what would have resulted from the Complainant’s career plans over the next decade. This includes all benefits such as her 401k, medical, and life insurance,” as well as punitive damages and attorney’s fees, among other damages, according to the complaint.
In response to Busche’s complaint, Bechtel spokesman Jason Bohne said in a written response, “We haven’t yet received the DOL complaint, so we are unable to address specific allegations. We are committed to ensuring the safe design, construction, and operation of the Waste Treatment and Vitrification Plant. Promoting a healthy nuclear safety and quality culture is essential to that commitment. We take Ms. Busche’s allegations seriously and will address them appropriately.” Bohne added, “The WTP nuclear safety and quality culture does not exist in a vacuum. Multiple Independent reviews of the WTP nuclear safety and quality culture are currently being conducted, in addition to evaluations performed in the past. An all-employee survey was conducted in September under the auspices of an independent review team, and a separate independent team is completing analysis of the survey results, which we expect very shortly.”
Jobs