Hanford nuke waste Groundhog Day – GWC Mag

The never-ending tale of the Hanford, Wash., nuke waste cleanup waste, fraud, and abuse returns, time after time. It’s the longest-running sage of the cascading failure of the U.S. government to deal with the wastes, past and present, from its nuclear weapons program.

Last Wednesday (Jan. 24), the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington filed a complaint in federal district court against Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, LLC (HMIS), alleging fraudulent labor overcharging at the Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Nuclear Site. Among other tasks, the company provides fire protection at the shuttered 80-year-old legacy bomb factory at Hanford on the Columbia River that made plutonium for the U.S. military’s nuclear weapons beginning in 1943, under a contract awarded in 2021. Hanford closed between 1964 and 1971.

The complaint is the result of a whistleblower, sprinkler fitter Bradley Keever, who alleged the company submitted false invoices for work never performed, totaling millions of dollars. The U.S. Attorney and DOE investigated his claims and then filed the formal complaint under the federal False Claims Act. Under that law, which is designed to encourage whistleblowers and protects them against retaliation by their employer, the government can recover triple damages.

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