Management at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state confirmed two more cases of COVID-19 over the three-day July 4 holiday weekend.
The online posts on the Energy Department website for the nuclear cleanup site did not provide any details on the infected individuals – such as whether they are federal employees or work for contractors.
The latest coronavirus infections bring Hanford’s total number of cases during the pandemic to 20, based on anecdotal information. It is unknown how many have recovered and returned to work.
The Hanford Site, which employs 11,000 people, remains in Phase 1 of DOE’s resumption of operations. The vast majority of employees were sent home, to either work remotely or collect paid leave, starting in late March in order to slow the spread of the virus. The site entered Phase 1, which involves bringing back people on-site in key roles and low-risk activities, after the Memorial Day weekend.
The Energy Department’s four-part remobilization framework starts with Phase 0, or preplanning, and is intended to eventually reach Phase 3, or something close to pre-COVID-19 staffing levels.
While no official numbers are available, it is believed most Hanford employees remain off-site – either working remotely or collecting paid leave. As of last Thursday, there were 18 “active” cases of COVID-19 at the nuclear cleanup sites overseen by the DOE Office of Environmental Management, according to a federal source.
As of Monday, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina reported a total of 62 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce. Forty of those employees have recovered and been cleared to return to work, with no new cases reported since Wednesday, July 1. Like Hanford, SRS employs about 11,000 people. Unlike Hanford, it has major operations for both the DOE Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
