The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday announced the cancellation of a major conference set to begin Tuesday just outside of Washington, D.C., as participants dropped out in the face of the spreading coronavirus outbreak.
“In recent days, a number of organizations and presenters have changed their attendance plans, with indications that others would reach similar decisions in coming days,” the agency said in a brief press announcement. “The NRC expresses its regret for the inconvenience and looks forward to holding the RIC next year, in 2021.”
The annual Regulatory Information Conference was scheduled for March 10-12 in North Bethesda, Md. As recently as Monday, it had been expected to go forward.
At that date, there were more than 2,200 registrants for the free event. An NRC spokesman on Thursday declined to say how many attendees had dropped out, or how many more cancellations were expected. He also would not say how much the regulator spent on this year’s conference.
The conference was scheduled to include discussions with members of the commission, along with technical sessions addressing various aspects of the NRC’s work as the regulator for U.S. commercial nuclear power and waste activities.
It had a sizable contingent of attendees and presenters from around the United States and other nations, including Canada, Finland, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Later in the day Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the first three known cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state. Hogan has declared a state of emergency in Maryland.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses including the common cold, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The novel coronavirus is a new strain not identified in humans before December 2019 in China.
In excess of 101,000 cases had been identifed in dozens of nations as of Friday afternoon, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. A total of 240 cases were confirmed in the United States, with 14 deaths. Thirteen of those were in Washington state and one in California.
The outbreak has led to cancellation of a growing number of conferences, including IHS Markit’s CERAWeek 2020 energy conference next week in Houston and a Google developer conference planned for May in Mountain View, Calif.
However, the Waste Management Symposia, a major international gathering of government and industry representatives on radioactive waste management, is going forward next week in Phoenix.
In an update Wednesday, the conference organizer said “The safety of our attendees, presenters, exhibitors, sponsors, vendors, and staff, continues to be the upmost importance to the WM Symposia organization. We are monitoring the latest developments related to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). We will be following all recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as it relates to COVID-19 prevention and implementing precautionary measures for WM2020.”
As of Friday, two cases had been confirmed in Arizona, with one presumptive case.
The event is taking a number of precautions, including having a medic on-site, and giving attendees hand sanitizer plus face masks upon request, according to a letter from an organizer.
“At this time there is no decree from the federal government on restrictions for conferences,” Symposia Chairman James Gallagher said in a Monday letter to sponsors and exhibitors for the international conference for the management of radioactive material.
The symposia’s technical sessions will start Monday if no additional government travel restrictions are established by the CDC and the World Health Organization, Gallagher wrote.
“We understand that there is a lot of fear and uncertainty right now as we are in the early stages of the outbreak and a lot is still unknown, however, we want to ensure we’ve making decision based on factual recommendations rather than rumor or fear,” he stated.
One contractor who intends to be in Phoenix said attendance – which can reach upward of 2,400 people — will be a bit depressed, with delegations from Asia, and to a lesser degree Europe, staying home
“Some people are freaking out,” the source said. The contractor added, though, that risk remains low in the United States, particularly if basic precautions are taken.
Likewise, a second participating contractor said he does not think vendor attendance will drop dramatically. “We all have to make a living,” he said. Gatherings like Waste Management Symposia are a popular venue for nuclear business meetings, he added.
Some international, and smaller U.S., companies are cutting back business travel until more information is available, the two sources said.
