And It All Started with One Dr. Walter Tamosaitis....

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Produced by: 
KBOO
Program:: 
Air date: 
Thu, 11/20/2014 - 10:00am to 10:15am
Interview with Dr. Walter Tamosaitis

Last month we learned that the Energy Department does not have an adequate system at Hanford to detect whether harmful vapors are sickening workers.
More than 50 workers in the past year have reported smelling vapors and then becoming ill after working around some of Hanford's 177 underground storage tanks holding nuclear waste. The workers were checked by doctors and cleared to return to work.
The nuclear reservation near Richland contains waste left over from the Cold War-era production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Yesterday Washington State AG Bob Ferguson said Wednesday that Hanford workers since 1987 have been reporting exposure to harmful vapors, with no solution found.
 
Under federal law, a lawsuit can be filed 90 days after the intent to sue is issued, Ferguson said. "There is a 90-day clock starting now," he said at a news conference in Seattle.

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