The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received six new positive COVID-19 tests for its workers between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, bringing the site total to 45 so far in the pandemic.
In addition, another worker at the DOE Hanford Site in Washington state has tested positive, bringing the total there to 176.
At the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), 28 of the people infected with the novel coronavirus-19 at WIPP have recovered and returned to work, according to a Twitter post from the DOE Carlsbad Field Office late Friday.
All six workers at WIPP experienced symptoms of the illness, according to the social media post. The other three were last onsite between Sep. 20-30. About 1,000 people work at WIPP, the DOE transuranic waste disposal site run by Nuclear Waste Partnership, a joint venture of Amentum and BWX Technologies.
The latest confirmed COVID-19 infection at Hanford, the former plutonium production site, was disclosed Sunday on the Hanford emergency operations website.The post provided no other details. Hanford has a staff of about 11,000 people.
Hanford’s manager, Brian Vance, said last week the site had already confirmed 175 infections since the pandemic took root in the United States early this year.
Both DOE nuclear cleanup sites are in Phase 2 of the agency’s program designed to return operations to pre-pandemic levels. Vance has said 60% of the Hanford staffers are back onsite. Phase 3 is the final stage of remobilization, where staffing inside-the-fence approaches pre-coronavirus levels.
As of last Thursday, there were 61 active COVID-19 cases in the DOE Office of Environmental Management complex, according to a spokesperson for the cleanup office.
