After sources told Weapons Complex Monitor of the latest federal efforts to stem the surge of new COVID-19 cases, the Department of Energy acknowledged Friday it is imploring government contractors to find ways to get workers to take the shot.
A DOE spokesperson told Weapons Complex Monitor Friday the agency is reaching out to managers of its federal contractors to press for more workers to be vaccinated.
“The safety of DOE’s workforce is our first priority,” the spokesperson said in an email prior to deadline. “As such, DOE has been in contact with our contractors about the importance and need for every member of our workforce to get vaccinated, and we support any proactive steps our contractors can take to better protect workers and communities.”
The spokesperson did not respond to whether this could mean having contractors mandate vaccinations for their workers.
Multiple industry sources told Weapons Complex Monitor Thursday the DOE is reaching out to managers of its federal nuclear site contractors to press for more workers to be vaccinated.
Representatives of Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, including chief of staff Tarak Shah, are calling up major contractors within the weapons complex and expressing support for everything from incentives to potentially even a vaccine mandate. “Those calls have started,” one industry source said by phone, “I don’t know that they have reached everyone yet.”
Nothing official has been agreed upon yet, but stay tuned, a second industry source said in an electronic message.
Bechtel does not mandate the vaccine at the corporate level among its employees, although it does encourage it, company spokesman Fred DeSousa said by phone when asked Thursday.
When it comes to contractor work, Bechtel-led ventures will typically defer to the on-site policy of its customer, DeSousa added. “It is their site,” and their project, the spokesman said. Bechtel is building the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, which is scheduled to start converting low-activity tank waste into a glass form by the end of 2023.
All Bechtel corporate offices in the United States recently reinstituted a “stand-up, mask up” order, which basically requires workers to slip on a mask anytime they are not seated, DeSousa said.
More than 18 months after the coronavirus pandemic started to spread in the United States, DOE and its $7-billion-plus Office of Environmental Management have not flat-out ordered workers and contractors to take one of the vaccines approved for emergency use in the United States.
But President Joe Biden adopted a more combative stance two weeks ago saying federal workers and contractors who fail to attest that they have been vaccinated, will have to stay masked on the job, be tested regularly and forgo any federal work travel.
The vaccine direction from the White House was discussed in an Aug. 4 memo from DOE’s Hanford site manager Brian Vance to workers at the former plutonium complex. “The Hanford leadership team is working closely with our Environmental Management headquarters team to implement this order consistent with the other Department of Energy sites across the nation,” Vance said.
Both Benton and Franklin counties in Washington state, have “high” community transmission rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vance said. As a result, Hanford workers must wear masks indoors. “Further, if you have not yet been vaccinated, please consider speaking with your personal health care provider for relevant vaccine information and advice,” Vance added.
This week at least 38 workers at Hanford reported to management they have tested positive for COVID-19, according to recent updates on a website run by a Leidos-led contractor at the DOE property.
Since the July 29 Biden press conference on federal worker inoculation, the U.S. military has ordered shots for its active duty personnel before the end of next September, and CNN and other media reported Thursday the Department of Health and Human Services will mandate vaccination for its healthcare workforce.
A DOE Environmental Management spokesperson could offer no specifics on whether vaccinations were up at cleanup properties since the president announced the policy change for the federal workforce. At headquarters in Washington, D.C., most workers are still telecommuting and no date has been set for a return to the office, the spokesperson said.
Some State Regulators Resuming Post-COVID Office Hours
After Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) this week mandated state employees get vaccinated by Oct. 4, the Washington Department of Ecology, state regulator for the Hanford Site, delayed a planned “soft reopening” of its offices previously scheduled for August, an Ecology spokesman said Tuesday.
The reopening has been pushed back from mid-August to mid-September, Ecology spokesman Ryan Miller, wrote in an email response to Weapons Complex Monitor.
“With that being said, we have had limited necessary staff back in the office for a while … [and] our inspectors have been back out in the field for several months,” Miller added.
Here is a brief rundown of the reopening status of various state regulators of big DOE nuclear facilities and their efforts to resume more normal operations months after coronavirus vaccines became publicly available.
- Mandatory telework related to COVID-19 ended this week at the New Mexico Environment Department, so those who wish to return to the office may do so. “The vast majority of staff have elected to work in a “hybrid” environment, meaning they come into the office on some days and telework on others,” said spokeswoman Maddy Hayden. The agency oversees state permits for both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
- The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality returned to working in-office on June 1, said Brian English, the department’s hazardous waste permits supervisor. The decision was based on various factors including the COVID Testing Positivity Rate being below 5%, he said. The agency, which inspects hazardous waste operations at the Idaho National Laboratory, allows staff to telecommute a day or two per week depending on the nature of their work.
- The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, a regulator of the DOE’s Savannah River Site, has largely been back in the office since late March, under an order from Gov. Henry McMaster (R) calling state employees back to their worksites. The policy does grant some leeway for medical conditions.
- All Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation offices are currently operating. “We are using a hybrid format with essential staff being in office as needed,” spokeswoman Kim Schofinski said of her agency, which is the state regulator for cleanup at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site.
