Oregon Senator Demands Investigation Into the Firing of Hanford Whistleblowers

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is demanding an investigation into the treatment of two whistleblowers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The whistleblowers have been fired after raising safety concerns about the construction of a $13 billion plant to treat the site's most dangerous radioactive wastes.

Wyden's  will ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate both the pattern of contractor retaliation against whistleblowers, and the U.S. Department of Energy's lack of response to those actions.

Donna Busche, a manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, was fired Tuesday morning by URS Corp. Walter Tamosaitis, who also worked at the Waste Treatment Plant construction site and raised safety concerns about the plant, was fired by URS in October.