Despite the dismissal of some workers who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the Department of Energy and its contractors at the Savannah River Site do not currently expect big personnel shortages in fiscal 2022, federal officials told the Nuclear Advisory Council to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday.
Of the total 1,056-member workforce at the Savannah River National Laboratory, “only three were not willing to take the vaccine” against the potentially-deadly illness or alternatively, receive exemptions for medical or other reasons, said Vahid Majidi, the lab director for Battelle Savannah River Alliance.
The lab does expect to fill upwards of 300 positions expected to come open within the next three years due to retirements, Majidi said.
Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the management and operations contractor for the entire 310-square-mile complex, except for the lab, expects to replace less than 8% of its workforce in fiscal 2022, said DOE’s deputy manager for the Office of Environmental Management at Savannah River Thomas Johnson Jr. That figure includes both sitewide retirements and “terminations” by SRNS for staff involved in both cleanup and National Nuclear Security Administration work, Johnson said. An SRNS spokesperson subsequently said the contractor employs 5,500 people and 96% are now vaccinated, which would potentially put 220 at risk of termination for being unvaccinated.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was targeted in a lawsuit filed last week in state court by about 75 employees who expect to be fired by Nov. 30 for refusing to be vaccinated by Oct. 15. On Friday attorneys representing the Savannah River Site operator received permission from the state court to move that litigation in federal court.
In addition, Johnson told the advisory board that Savannah River Remediation, the Amentum-led liquid waste contractor for the site, expects to replace 7% of its workforce in the current fiscal year.
Earlier this year, the Savannah River contractors figured attrition rates would be in the 8%-to-11% range, Johnson said. In response to a question from the board, Johnson speculated there are “not as many opportunities out there as folks think” — at least not ones that match the overall benefits at the Savannah River Site, he said.
The meeting of the Nuclear Advisory Council was webcast.
Editor’s note: The fourth paragraph was updated Oct. 25 due to information submitted after deadline by the contractor.
