The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina as of Friday has confirmed 23 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce.
That is up from 22 reported at the end of last week. Sixteen of those employees have recovered and returned to work, a spokeswoman for the DOE’s SRS operations said by email. Savannah River typically does not release details on individuals.
Across the 16 nuclear cleanup sites overseen by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management there are 33 confirmed coronavirus infections and zero deaths, according to the agency.
On May 27, the Savannah River Site began Phase 1 of a gradual four-part process to resume operations that were reduced in late March as the Environmental Management office sought to slow the spread of COVID-19 among its workforce.
The Hanford Site in Washington state, which like SRS employs about 11,0000 people at full staffing, has only reported five cases of COVID-19. At both sites the vast majority of the workforce was at home – either telecommuting or collecting paid leave – for about two months starting in late March.
Energy Department officials in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina declined to discuss the relative infection rate at Savannah River.
Unlike Hanford, which exclusively involves a nuclear cleanup job, Savannah River houses operations for both Environmental Management and DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), with an on-site national laboratory. The Energy Department does not disclose how virus infections at the South Carolina facility break down by silo.
The Savannah River Site spreads across Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties, which together as of Friday have more than 1,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Benton County, where Hanford is located, had 850 cases at deadline Friday. Neighboring Franklin County had 640 cases, according to the Washington state Department of Health.
One industry source speculated without data that the work by the NNSA and at the Savannah River National Laboratory has increased the infection count for the South Carolina site. The NNSA and laboratory operations tend to occur indoors and keeps personnel in relatively close proximity. By contrast, the limited Environmental Management chores tend to take place outside, or in locations where physical distancing is more feasible.
Officials at the 310-square-mile SRS complex anticipate About 2,000 employees would gradually return to the site during Phase 1, according to DOE but no public predictions have been made about how long that will take.
Phase 1 involves the first recall of key individuals whose work is best performed on-site, almost most workers will continue to stay home. Sites in regions “with no evidence of a rebound” in infections can proceed to Phases 2 and recall more people, according to DOE documents. Barring a spike in infections, site can ultimately reach Phase 3, when unrestricted staffing can resme.
Watchdog Gets List of ‘Essential’ Tasks That Continued at Savannah River During Pandemic
The Savannah River Site continued to perform 22 “essential supporting activities” during April and May, according to information provided to a local watchdog group.
Savannah River Site Watch Director Tom Clements said he received the list from a DOE lawyer on May 26 in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The request was filed shortly after SRS went into minimal operations in late March.
A few of the on-site chores identified by DOE include environmental monitoring, safely storing and monitoring radioactive waste, ensuring availability of dosimetry and radiological Instruments, maintaining biomass-fueled boiler facilities to generate electricity, and supporting recovery of fissile material from Savannah River nuclear reactors and other domestic and foreign research reactors.
Certain research projects at the Savannah River National Laboratory also continued, such as the Atmospheric Technologies Center’s meteorological monitoring program.
The on-site work also includes something of a catch-all effort to maintain “minimum facility required activities necessary” for the safety of human life and protection of property.
A wide range of security services were not interrupted, including cybersecurity, emergency services, physical security at nuclear facilities, and command and control functions. Medical services remained available.
The list also cites tasks that could be performed off-site. They include design work, information technology, and financial management.
