The Department of Energy has asked for an Inspector General’s investigation into the recent termination of a key nuclear safety manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, a senior DOE Office of Environmental Management official said yesterday. URS, a major subcontractor at the WTP, has come under heavy scrutiny over its decision last month to fire Donna Busche, who has alleged she has faced harassment and retaliation for raising safety concerns. “This termination has raised questions about the potential of an improper reprisal for having raised health, safety or other protected concerns,“ EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety, Security, and Quality Programs Matt Moury said at a hearing held by the Senate Financial and Contracting Oversight Subcommittee into whistleblowers at Hanford. “For this reason, the Department has asked the Office of the Inspector General to review the circumstances surrounding the termination of Ms. Busche. The department will take appropriate action based on the outcomes of any IG investigation,” Moury said.
An IG investigation would be the second that’s been called for into Busche’s termination—Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has also requested that the Government Accountability Office look into the matter. When asked, though, by Subcommittee Chair Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) what actions DOE could take if it was determined that Busche’s termination was an act of retaliation, Moury replied, “I don’t know exactly what those actions would be. They would be dependent on the results of the review.” McCaskill appeared to be skeptical at yesterday’s hearing as to the effectiveness of another investigation into safety culture concerns at Hanford—the subject has also been reviewed by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and DOE’s Office of Health, Safety and Security, among others. “You know, at some point in time the customer here needs to do something other than ask for another report because clearly it doesn’t appear that even the Secretary of Energy issuing a memorandum had much of a chilling effect on the company doing what they had to know was going to be two high profile dismissals,” McCaskill said.
New URS Global Management and Operations Services General Manager James Taylor reiterated at the hearing URS’ stance that Busche’s termination was not an act of retaliation, but that instead she had been fired for cause “due to her conduct and behavior.” Taylor said, “It is unfortunate and it was one of the toughest decisions I’ve made in my career. … It was brought to my attention through our employee concerns program where we had employees that filed complaints against Ms. Busche’s conduct and behavior. We investigated those. We validated those concerns. And I had to make the really hard decision to terminate Ms. Busche.”
