The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state will continue in Phase 1 of restart operations next week, Manager Brian Vance announced Thursday as the facility moves toward more normal work levels while simultaneously trying to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
However, there will be a “marginal increase” in on-site staffing at the Waste Treatment and Plant being built by Bechtel, Vance said in an online memo to the 11,000 federal and contractor employees at the former plutonium production complex.
The statement did not provide any numbers on how many people will be physically at Hanford next week. Only a fraction of the normal workforce at Hanford and other DOE cleanup sites were inside the fence during the minimal operations conducted between late-March and late-May.
Hanford and the other 15 Office of Environmental Management locations are following the department’s four-part remobilization framework, which starts with Phase 0, preplanning, and eventually reaches Phase 3, or something close to pre-COVID-19 staffing levels.
After spending two months with the vast majority of the workforce either working remotely or collecting paid leave, Hanford started Phase 1 recalls of certain employees after the Memorial Day weekend. Phase 1 callbacks include key managers and personnel, such as maintenance workers, who work in isolated areas that require little personal protective equipment (PPE). Those returning enter an altered work environment that includes temperature checks, routine use of face coverings, and more emphasis on physical distance between individuals.
Callbacks increase during Phase 2 for employees who require little PPE but whose jobs are best performed on-site.
As of noon Thursday, there were no word of any of the 16 nuclear cleanup sites planning to change their restart status.
Phase 2 is underway at Idaho National Laboratory, the Nevada National Security Site, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to DOE. All other Environmental Management sites are in Phase 1.
Energy Department headquarters operations in Washington, D.C., and Germantown, Md., on Monday advanced to Phase 2.
Hanford also announced two additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 this week. The most recent was disclosed Wednesday and involves an employee who works in the 200 East Area. Another confirmed case was reported Monday on DOE’s Hanford website. No details were provided.
The latest coronavirus infections bring Hanford’s total number of cases during the pandemic to 18, based on anecdotal information. It is unknown how many have recovered and returned to work.
Meanwhile, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has confirmed a total of 62 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce. The total case count is 10 more than listed a week ago. The Energy Department website for Savannah River says 40 of those employees have recovered and been cleared to return to work.
The Savannah River Site has 11,000 employee and major operations for both the Environmental Management office and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
A DOE Environmental Management source said there are 24 active COVID cases in the EM complex and no fatalities.
Half of Fluor Idaho Workforce Back On-Site
Half of the 1,800-person cleanup workforce at the Idaho National Laboratory was as of last week back on-site after months of reduced operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to contractor Fluor Idaho.
An additional 30% were still teleworking, a company spokesperson said by email June 25. The rest were collecting paid leave.
The roughly 900 Idaho Cleanup Project personnel inside the fence is double the headcount from April, the month after the Office of Environmental Management dramatically reduced staffing to curb transmission of the novel coronavirus 2019. At that point, 25% of Fluor Idaho’s workforce was telecommuting and another 50% collecting paid leave.
Nearly 300 cleanup employees, subcontractors, and family members took part in Fluor Idaho’s two COVID-19 antibody testing clinics last month in Idaho Falls. Fluor Idaho partnered with Mountain View Hospital for the events, the company said in a June 17 press release. The purpose of the clinics was to let participants know, through a blood test, if they might have been exposed to COVID-19.
The test results are provided directly to the employee by Mountain View Hospital, the Fluor Idaho spokesman said.
Fluor Idaho only receives benefit cost and claim data from Aetna related to the CARES Act; cleanup contractor does not receive any data about how many employees had antibodies, the spokesman said.
