A “small number” of Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees are in self-imposed isolation after attending an event in which other participants subsquently tested positive for infection by the 2019 novel coronavirus, the agency said Friday.
“To our knowledge, all of those employees are asymptomatic; however, out of an abundance of caution these employees have elected to self-isolate for 14 days in accordance with” guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NRC spokesman David McIntyre said by email.
He did not identify the event or the number of employees, but said they work at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md.
The industry regulator is taking a number of precautionary steps as cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continue to climb across the United States. On Friday, it was testing the capacity for large numbers of employees to work from home.
The intent of the telework practice day is to evaluate agency capabilities and readiness to conduct its mission in the event of a continuity of operations scenario.
“The health and safety of our employees are our foremost concerns. We are talking with, and listening, to our employees to fully understand their issues associated with this evolving situation,” McIntyre wrote. “NRC management is following Office of Personnel Management guidance and has reviewed the agency’s Continuity of Operations (COOP) procedures while considering what possible actions related to the coronavirus might be warranted going forward.”
The agency has taken a number of steps in platform modernization, including issuing new laptop computers and upgrading to Windows 10, that would make it easier for personnel to work from most anywhere as long as they have Internet access, McIntyre stated.
The federal regulator has nearly 3,000 full-time equivalent employees dispersed across its headquarters, four regional offices, and a training facility.
Roughly 75% of the agency’s personnel are authorized to telecommute, Commissioner David Wright said during a Senate hearing Wednesday on his nomination to a new term. Telework is not mandatory, and is not available for some positions – for example, resident inspectors at nuclear power plants.
Staff are also being urged to practice “social distancing,” according to McIntyre. “NRC staff are asked to limit external visitors to NRC facilities and use alternative methods, such as teleconferencing or video conferencing, to complete meeting objectives. If an in-person meeting is necessary involving external individuals, management approval is required.”
The NRC’s licensees, including nuclear power plants, are also taking precautions, Wright said during the hearing. The facilities have plans for sequestration and restricted site access for personnel who have been out of the country for the past 14 days, he told Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
The NRC already canceled its annual Regulatory Information Conference, which would have brought in around 2,200 participants to North Bethesda, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. In its announcement last week, the regulator noted an increasing number of withdrawals from presenters and participating organizations, which were expected from the United States and a number of other nations.
On Wednesday, NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki issued a revised continuity of operations program document. As the name indicates, the program is intended to keep the agency functioning in the event of “potential disruptions.”
“These activities must continue to be performed under all continuity readiness levels and during a wide variety of emergencies and disruptive events, including localized acts of nature, accidents, pandemic, and technological or attack-related emergencies,” the document says.
The continuity of operations management directive primarily specifies the responsibilities of NRC personnel down the chain of command, including the chairman, the commissioners, the executive director for operations, and the specific office directors. It makes clear who would assume added authority in the event of an interruption above.
For example, the chairman has the authority to invoke emergency powers in the event of a continuity of operations threat at the same time as a crisis at a nuclear power plant or other licensed facility. In the absence of a chairman, a commissioner would assume that role and its authority.
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.
The Department of Energy last week issued a set of travel restrictions to its staff.
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.
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.
