A federal judge has ruled that a case against the federal government concerning worker safety at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation will go to trial, rejecting the Department of Energy's attempt to have the case dismissed.
The DOE argued that the case, which involves as many as 2,000 workers exposed to vapors from some of the site's 177 waste storage tanks, did not threaten enough state residents to warrant proceeding with a trial.
The DOE questioned the validity of the case, given the 2,000 workers were but a small percentage of the millions of residents in Washington State.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice, however, ruled that “the state has an inherent and fundamental sovereign interest in ensuring that all Washington workers are safe.”
Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the case against the Department of Energy last fall. Washington River Protection Solutions, the contractor at the site, is also named in the suit.
The case claim that workers have suffered an assortment of health issues due to their exposure. The medical issues include headaches, nosebleeds, lung pain and chest pain, the Associated Press reported.
The trial is scheduled to start May 22, 2017.