A worker a the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is being tested for 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a statement distributed Thursday evening to staff at the former plutonium complex.
The office building on George Washington Way in the city of Richland, where the employee of support services contractor Mission Support Alliance works, is closed and is being disinfected, according to the statement from Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance.
Results of the test are pending and DOE and the contractor are working closely with the Benton-Franklin Health District, the statement adds.
“We want the site employees and the community to know we are prepared and are working diligently to effectively manage the situation,” Vance said.
“Even the healthiest of us” should follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to help minimize the spread of the virus, he added. “If you are sick, please consider your safety and the safety of others, and report your illness to your supervisor and do not come into work.”
Earlier in the day, in Washington, D.C., Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said he had received no reports of coronavirus infections in the Energy Department complex. So the Hanford worker might prove to be the first one.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management is delaying public tours at Hanford and its 15 other nuclear cleanup sites until the end of April, according to a press release Friday from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Tours had been scheduled at Savannah River on March 26, April 16, and April 23. “DOE will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as appropriate,” the release says.
Coronaviruses cause respiratory illnesses with symptoms including fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. Since being identified in China at the end of 2019, more than 137,000 COVID-19 cases and over 5,000 deaths have been confirmed around the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic.
As of Friday, there had been 1,629 confirmed cases in the United States and 41 deaths, according to the latest update from the CDC. Washington state has been hit particularly hard, with 31 confirmed deaths. Most of those have been in nursing home in the Seattle area, across the state from Hanford.
An employee of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California tested negative for infection after reporting exposure to the novel coronavirus, a lab spokesperson said Wednesday. The employee had gone into self-quarantine, along with 25 personnel who had contact with the infected individual at the DOE facility.
Late Thursday, the Energy Department announced that the Emergency Operations Center for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant had been activated. “The activation occurred as a result of the State of NM closing all public schools and to ensure the continued safe operation of the WIPP facility,” according to a notice on Twitter.
The Savannah River Site as a matter of practice urges workers who wake up feeling sick to first consult with a medical professional, according to its top DOE manager.
Michael Budney told Weapons Complex Monitor that SRS already contingency plans for dealing with infectious disease outbreaks. Such plans address, for example, “how many people do you need to operate” key facilities if the SRS workforce is affected by a flu outbreak.
In face of Coronavirus, DOE Curbs ‘Non-Essential’ Travel
While the Department of Energy is not yet restricting travel inside the United States in response to the coronavirus, it is encouraging offices to “begin reducing non-essential domestic travel,” according to a March 6 memo that was then posted to the agency website on Tuesday.
Agency managers should review all large conferences or gatherings involving more than 30 people arriving from multiple locations that are planned for the next 60 days, the memo says. But outright cancellation would require approval from top Energy Department management.
For “Non-Department Funded Work,” covering the national laboratories, National Nuclear Security Administration plants, and other contractors, the agency advised following “DOE policy and any additional restrictions placed on travel by the other agency, or the entity funding and sponsoring the SPP work.”
The department is prohibiting personnel from traveling to countries such as China and Iran that have been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having significant outbreaks of the virus. Travel to certain parts of Italy and South Korea should also be avoided, the memo says. Energy Department officials should defer meetings with people traveling from these “do not travel” destinations identified by the State Department.
In addition, all nonessential international travel is suspended until further notice. The memo did not elaborate on what international travel is deemed essential.
Questions can be emailed to the Consolidated Emergency Operations Center Watch Office: [email protected].
Waste Conference Goes on During Outbreak of Cancellations
Even amid the Energy Department advisory, and with widespread event cancellations and school closures, most participants still showed up for an annual nuclear waste and cleanup industry conference in Phoenix.
The Waste Management Symposia drew about 90% of its normal attendance of employees of the Energy Department and other agencies, industry representatives, and researchers. Attendance was less than 2,100, down approximately 200 from last year’s total of 2,300, said WMS Director Jan Carlin.
More importantly, the four-day gathering occurred without making medical news. There were no visits to an on-site medic provided for the event, and no requests for face masks, “No medical complaints. No one requested or received testing” for the virus, according to Carlin.
Meanwhile, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on Tuesday canceled a planned March 19 open hearing in Aiken, S.C., about the future of the Savannah River Site. Officially, the independent federal nuclear health and safety watchdog did not say coronavirus concerns was the reason for calling off the meeting. A spokesperson attributed it to “witness” availability.
The witnesses were to include DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White and other top managers at the agency’s nuclear cleanup office.
