The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina might have to revisit the schedule for operation of the Salt Waste Processing Facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson said Thursday.
Eight cases of infection by the novel coronavirus 2019 have been confirmed at Savannah River. That is more than half of the 14 known cases across the DOE Office of Environmental Management complex of 16 nuclear cleanup sites, a federal source said Friday. That includes the first confirmed case at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Less than two months ago, before the term “COVID-19” became fully imprinted in the public lexicon, Energy Department contractor Parsons expected by the end of March to start up the $470 million facility to treat millions of gallons of radioactive salt waste at SRS.
In 2002, Parsons signed a $2.3 billion contract to design and build the 140,000-square-foot Salt Waste Processing Facility designed to process more than 6 million gallons of tank waste annually. Construction was essentially finished in June 2016, at which time DOE and the company hoped for a December 2018 startup. That projection was pushed back more than a year due to technical problems such as valve replacements. Along the way the federal government has criticized the company’s handling of the project, although it still should be online ahead of the the January 2021 deadline set in the contract.
But Savannah River, like most other DOE nuclear weapons and remediation sites, has reduced on-site staff to curb the spread of the disease. Only about 30% of its normal 11,000-person workforce was on-site as of Thursday. Another 42% was telecommuting, while the rest are on approved paid leave.
Parsons continues to do preparation on the Salt Waste Processing Facility, much of it remotely, the Energy Department spokesperson said in an email. The reduced on-site workforce is prompting the agency to evaluate the status of environmental operations at SRS, “including startup of the SWPF,” the spokesperson added, declining to elaborate further.
The Energy Department operations office at the Savannah River Site has confirmed three new COVID-19 cases in the past week, bringing the total to eight at the 310-square mile complex. In recent days, four of the eight people have recovered and returned to work. Site management declines to divulge how many of the individuals are employed directly by DOE and how many by its contractors.
Savannah River houses operations overseen by both the Office of Environmental Management and DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
The Savannah River website notes that essential mission critical operations, such as tritium production, secure storage of nuclear materials, and maintaining nuclear emergency response, continue on-site. The DOE complex is located near the South Carolina-Georgia state line, and both governors have issued stay-at-home-type orders through the end of the month.
Hanford’s radioactive tank waste management contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, on Thursday confirmed the site’s first positive coronavirus result. “The individual was tested yesterday, received results this afternoon, and subsequently notified the shift office.” The worker’s last day on-site was March 17. Since then the person’s workplace was cleaned in keeping with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President and CEO John Eschenberg said in a prepared statement.
The Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have also publicly acknowledged single positive cases among workers involved in nuclear cleanup. The location of the other three cases could not be ascertained by press time.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has an emergency stay-at-home order in place through May 4. Energy Department Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance announced Thursday the former plutonium production site will stick with its bare bones essential-mission-critical operations for at least another week. It has been in that status since March 24.
Sources indicate that 60% of Hanford’s roughly 11,000-person workforce continues to work from home. Only 15% are still working at the facility itself, with the rest still on paid leave.
Cleanup contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation evaluates on-site staffing needs “through a revised hazards safety analysis to determine which of them could and should safely continue” while maintaining social distancing and other public health guidelines, a company spokesperson said in an emai. Availability of personal protective equipment is also a consideration, the spokesperson added in a Thursday email.
The Energy Department has confirmed the only Office of Environmental Management site that has not dramatically cut back on-site staffing is the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project in Utah.
About 450 members of the Fluor Idaho 1,800-member environmental cleanup staff remained working on-site at the Idaho National Laboratory, with another 450 working from home. The Idaho National Laboratory as a whole went into reduced staffing March 26 following issuance of a stay-home order by Gov. Brad Little (R), which was extended this week through April 30.
The Portsmouth Site in Ohio has established health screening stations where employees answer questions and are subject to a temperature check before entering the workplace. “Anyone coming on site, even if just for a brief moment, must go through the screening,” according to the website.
On April 2, Department of Energy’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office announced essential minimum critical operations until further notice at the two former gaseous diffusion plant centers in Ohio and Kentucky, as well as the headquarters office in Lexington, Ky.
A website posting by United Steelworkers Local 550, which represents union members at the Paducah Site, noted that “non-essential” workers continue to be paid through at least April 30. The union website also said COVID-19 “pre-screening” has begun at Paducah. No details were provided on what this pre-screening involves.
The Office of Environmental Management’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has no confirmed cases. There is no on-site testing. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) has a stay-at-home order in place through the end of April. Field work is limited to chores that ensure protection of the public and employees, an Oak Ridge spokesperson said.
