Charles Varnadore, Whistle-Blower at Lab, Dies at 71

After Charles D. Varnadore complained about safety at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where he worked as a technician, his bosses moved him to an office containing radioactive waste. When an industrial hygienist recommended that either he or the waste be moved, he was put in a room contaminated with mercury.

Mr. Varnadore fought back, publicizing questionable safety practices at Oak Ridge, a federal nuclear research center that had helped develop the atomic bomb, and his own treatment, which he characterized as retaliation for his outspokenness.

His complaints drew national attention, and he found allies in the federal government...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/us/charles-d-varnadore-whistle-blower-at-nuclear-lab-dies-at-71.html