The Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky have received approval from the Energy Department to bring back additional personnel who have largely been off-site for months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Your commitment to enhanced safety and deliberate restart of planned project activities has paved the way for moving to Phase 2 of our approach to returning the site to routine operations,” Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) Manager Robert Edwards said in an memo posted Tuesday for federal and contractor personnel at the two facilities.
This will be a slow ramp up as DOE continues to monitor impacts of COVID-19 on the surrounding area and within the PPPO workforce, Edwards said. Many employees for the ongoing remediation at the two former DOE gaseous diffusion plants will continue to telecommute, he added. No specific figures were included in the statement. Nor did it say explicitly when Phase 2 callbacks would start.
The pace of personnel callbacks will be based on factors such as coronavirus health data, remaining state and local restrictions on large gatherings, and facility preparedness, Edwards wrote: “You will be notified by your employer regarding specific return to work dates.”
Like most other DOE cleanup sites, Portsmouth and Paducah cut back to minimal on-site operations in mid-March, with most people working remotely or collecting paid leave. The two sites started Phase 1 of DOE’s remobilization program on June 8.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management is using a four-step process that starts with Phase 0, a planning and preparation period. Phase 1 starts the gradual recall of some workers in high-priority or low-risk roles that don’t need much personal protective equipment. This process continues with more workers being called back in Phase 2 and can include workers that require more PPE and safety precautions. Some limited nonessential travel can resume in Phase 2, although most external meetings will still be done remotely.
Finally, in Phase 3, staffing can return to near-normal levels although physical distancing and other anti-virus precautions continue, and special accommodations can be made for vulnerable employees, according to DOE.
