Cleanup schedule compromises safety at nuke site, critics charge
The State of Washington is investigating charges that the Department of Energy and its contractors currently engaged in cleaning up the 586-square-mile Hanford nuclear waste complex are ignoring some of the risks associated with the cleanup, according to The New York Times.
The state attorney general's office is studying allegations arising from a report by the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group that represents some Hanford workers in legal actions. According to the report, there were 45 incidents from 2002 through the middle of last year in which 67 workers required medical attention because they were exposed to toxic vapors from underground tanks.